High School Dance or Dead Clown Seance?
by PotatoChipsu
Summary: What if Star and Marco went to the dance together instead? A alternate take on the "Bon Bon the Birthday Clown" episode, and by alternate... I mean alternate! Contains Marco x Star, Jackie, & Janna, but not a harem ending. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression, didn't mean to. Summary Last Updated 5/1/19
1. Chapter 1

**Updated 6/16/2019**

 **Hello! Thanks for checking this out. I apologize ahead of time for my horrible grammar. I never thought in my life I would want to make a Fanfic and now I'm really regretting not paying attention in English class lol. Well anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it!**

Janna puts her arm around Star's shoulder. "What are you going to remember more, high school dance or dead clown seance?"

Star's mind begins to fill with all the things she can do with a dead clown. Immediately, she wants to say, d _ead clown seance_ , but before it can leave her lips, she remembers her promise to Marco and how badly he did not want to go alone. "I'm sorry Janna," Star sighs with her head down, distancing her self from her friend. "I promised Marco I'd go to the dance and he really did not want to go alone..."

Janna rolls her eyes and sighs. "Fine, I Guess I'll go by myself then," Janna says as she turns around, keeping her cake box close to her side. "Just don't come looking to me for another dead clown seance, which you know, only happens like… Never!"

Star puts her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Janna..."

Janna lets out another sigh. "Sorry, it's just I don't see any point in going to a dumb dance over a dead clown coming back to life!"

Star bites her lip and looks to the side, thinking of some way to make a compromise. "Well... if the dance isn't too long... can we maybe meet up with you later?"

Janna pauses and seems to think about it for a moment. "Okay fine," She smiles. "Just don't make out or anything if you do come over though."

Star gets flustered at the thought."M-make out? Me and Marco? Come on Janna! He is like my best friend!" Star playfully hits Janna in the arm, which to Janna, is not so playful at all.

"Uhh, oww?" Janna rubs her arm. "I was just messing with you Star..." Looking at her friend, who still seems lost at the thought of her joke, Janna decides to take her leave. "Well anyway, see you if I see you..." she says, walking away still rubbing her arm.

Star, snapping out of LaLa land, waves frantically goodbye. "T-Thanks Janna! See you later hopefully!"

On her way back to her dance date, Star notices Jackie leaving a rather depressed Marco. "Hey, what's up? Something happen with Jackie?" Star asks.

Marco turns around, caught off guard by Star's sudden return. "O-oh hey Star. Nah, its nothing don't worry about it."

"You sure? You seem kinda dow-"

Marco quickly cuts in. "So, I been thinking about the dance and was wondering what color do you want to wear?"

Now Star is the one taken off guard. "Color?"

"Well," Marco explains, "I didn't know if you wanted to go in matching colors or not?"

Star thinks for a moment. "Oh, well how about Prussian blue then! It's your favorite right?"

Surprised, Marco cracks a smile and brightens up a bit. "Uh yeah, haha, that would be cool."

They share a smile, enjoying the fact they know these little things about each other. Star has not been on earth too long, but with the bond they have, it feels as if they have been friends forever.

"So, are you sure everything is alright?" asks Star.

"Yeah..." Marco says, looking away and scratching the back of his head. "Jackie just kinda… asked me to the dance is all."

Star explodes with excitement. "Wow really?! You should totally go with her then Marco! That's like your dream come true!"

"Yeah, but..."

"But what? This is what you have been waiting for! Right?" Star beams.

"Yeah... but I asked you first, you know?" Marco says, looking down at Star.

Taken aback by his answer, Star's heart skips a beat. Marco would give up his dream date for her? ... No, it was just out of obligation. Marco was just being considerate because he asked her first, Star knew that. "O-oh... well I don't mind, you can go with her instead if you really want to. Janna and I were gonna g-"

"No no." Marco interrupts, "Come on Star, you think I would go with her after asking you first? I would feel like a total jerk!"

Star tries to reassure her friend. "Marco, really it's okay I-"

Marco puts his hand up to stop Star from speaking. "No, I am going to go with you Star."

"Marc-"

Placing his hands on Star's shoulders, Marco says sternly and clearly. "and that's final."

With that being said, Marco walks away and continues to decorate the gym. Star just stands there, not too sure of what else to do. "O-okay," she says, giving in to the boy's stubbornness. Star looks to Marco and places her hand where he had firmly, but gently grabbed and affirmed his choice. "And that's final," she says again playfully to herself, smiling a little at the thought.

 **Short yes I know, but I have more I will put up soon. This is actually something I was working on a while back, but I wrote it kind of like a script so I have to add all the little extras that make it more of a story. I believe I have about four chapters done, so those should come out soon. (If anyone even cares lol) Originally, I planned for this to be a fan comic. Sadly my drawings skills are not quite at that level and I just wanted to get this story out already. I can always make a comic later on when I get better at drawing anyway. Till next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Updated 6/17/19**

Marco and Star are standing in front of their vanities next to each other, getting ready for the dance.

"I got the cutest Prussian blue dress for the dance!" Star exclaims as she brushes her long blond hair.

"Oh yeah?" Marco says, applying his deodorant.

"Yup, you are gonna love it! It's the Prussianiest of blues!"

Marco laughs, "Thanks again for agreeing to go with me Star."

Star looks over and smiles. "No prob... but, I'm still kind of bummed you could have gone with Jackie instead," she says, her eyes downcast.

Marco sighs, "Star like I said, don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I know… but in the end, you would have much rather gone with Jackie."

"Star for the hundredth time! I want to go with you, believe me!" Marco groans, eyes to the ceiling.

Star rolls her eyes. "Okaaay," she says as she lets out a defeated sigh, resuming to brush her hair.

Marco sprays his "Aroma de Hombre" on his wrist and sniffs it. "Yeah, that's it." He says with a smug look on his face. Marco moves his wrist over to Star, who takes a whiff.

"Mm yeah, smells nice!" She remarks.

Marco sprays a cloud in the air. "A little dab'll do ya." Spreading his arms, Marco walks towards the cloud.

Star giggles as she watches the boy's strange action. "You are so weird."

"What?" Marco turns to Star still moving forward. "This is how to evenly get the scent all over yo-" Before he can finish explaining, Marco slips on a bottle, falling to the floor. The cologne cloud, with nothing to latch onto, falls to the ground, coming to rest... on his butt. Marco scrambles back up. "Star! How many times do I have to tell you to clean up your stuff!"

"Sorry sorry!" Star apologizes frantically, running over to him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright." Marco sighs. "but now my butt smells like cologne."

Star laughs, "well, at least it smells good."

Marco Picks up the bottle he slipped on. "What is this anyway?" He asks.

"Oh!" Star takes the bottle from his hands. "This is the perfume my aunt sent me! I still need to send her a thank you card now that I think about it..." Star sprays it on her wrist and takes a whiff. "Mmm, smells good!" She gives Marco her wrist to smell it.

"Yeah, that smells nice." He responds.

Star sprays a cloud to walk through, mimicking her friend. "A little dab'll do ya." Star slyly says as she looks back at Marco, who just rolls his eyes and smirks. Star spreads her arms and begins to walk through the cloud.

"Star, Watch out!" Marco suddenly shouts, pointing at the ground.

Star turns to look, but it's too late. She slips on another one of her belongings that she leaves everywhere. Her perfume cloud, doomed to suffer the same fate as Marco's, comes to a rest, on her butt.

Marco hurries to help Star up in concern. "Are you okay Star!?"

Star looks back at her now scented butt, then at Marco. Both suddenly explode with laughter. " **Guess we both got nice smelling butts now."** They both say at the same time. **Jinx!"** They both exclaim as they smile at each other. **Stop that!"** They say again in unison. A moment of silence passes as they look at each other stone-faced. Shortly, they both start laughing again.

"It's so weird when we do that," Star laughs, getting up and dusting herself off.

"Yeah, I know right?" laughs Marco, standing up also.

"Well... I'm going to go change." Star motions towards her door.

"Yeah, me too. See you downstairs," Marco says.

* * *

Star stands in front of her mirror, slipping on her dress for the dance, a beautiful Prussian blue dress she had tailor-made by the royal seamstress. "I hope Marco likes it," Star says as she turns side to side in the mirror making sure everything looks its best.

"Getting dolled up for Marco are we?"

Star jumps at the unexpected voice.

"Has Mewni found its next King already?" Glossaryck says as he pops out of one of Star's boots on the floor eating a bag of chips.

"G-Glossaryck! Geez, don't scare me like that!" Star snatches her boots off the ground. "and no, Marco and I are just going to a dance at school." Star says as she heads over to her bed to put them on.

"Ahh, a dance," Glossaryck says wistfully as he does backstrokes in the air, "it has been a while since these legs have seen some action." Lifting up his robe, Glossaryck's legs drop down like wet noodles. "Maybe I should come with you. I can size up the future heir to the throne, and GET MY GROVE ON!" He says with his usual voice fluctuation.

Star, putting on her last boot, stands up. "Yeah... this is kinda just a me and Marco thing, so..."

"Oh come on! You won't even know I'm there." Glossaryck says as he turns his self paper thin, turning to the side, seeming to disappear.

"I guess..." Star says half-heartedly.

"Great let's go!" Glossaryck jumps in the book and stands there looking at Star.

"You're gonna bring the book too?"

"But of course! This book is an extension of me, and where I keep my shaving cream." Glossaryck says as he sprays shaving cream on his stretched out hairy leg.

Star is annoyed at her teacher's persistence to go to the dance and his... shaving. She begins looking around her room to see if she can find something to turn this situation around. Lo and behold! A cup of pudding, half eaten, is seen on the nightstand. Star grabs it with a smug expression on her face. "Oh Glossaryck!~"

"Yeah?"

Star begins wagging the pudding it in front of Glossaryck. "You want this huh? You want it boy?"

"Why are you talking to me like that?" Glossaryck says as he follows the cup back and forth.

"You want it!? You know you do!" Star prods.

"Yes, I would like it." Glossaryck nods, with a deadpan face, sitting like a dog.

"Huh!? Huh!?"

"GIVE ME THE PUDDING WOMAN!"

Star chucks the pudding cup into her secrets closet. Glossaryck, foaming at the mouth, rushes to the closet with the book bending like a dog. Star quickly slams the door shut and summons a Slime Whale with her wand to block the door. "Slimy whale barricade!"

With that done, Star dust her hands off and turns to the bedroom door. Sticking her tongue out at the now captured Glossaryck, she hits the light switch and leaves.

* * *

Walking downstairs, Star is greeted by Angie fawning over her. "Oh Star, you look so beautiful!"

"¡Si, muy bonita!" Rafael chimes in.

"Aww, Thank you guys." Star is glad they think she looks great, she hopes Marco thinks so too. Looking around, Star notices he is missing. "Is Marco not done yet?" she asks.

A voice calls out above her. "I'm ready!"

Looking up, Star sees Marco making his way downstairs. It was like a truck just hit her, she never noticed just how handsome Marco was, until now.

"¡Ay, mejo!" Rafael says as he sees his son.

"Y-yeah, what he said," Star says under her breath.

Marco reaches the bottom of the stairs and finally gets a good look at Star, "Wow, you look... amazing." He says.

Star snaps out of her trance."You d-don't look too bad yourself."

"Pictures! Pictures! We need pictures!" Rafael shouts as he and Angie rush around the house trying to find a camera.

"Oh, uh, we could use my phone?" Star says as she pulls it out.

"Yeah, that will work!" Angie smiles, grabbing the phone.

Star and Marco lock arms smiling.

"Okay, say cheese!"

 **"Cheese,"** They both say as the flash goes off.

"Oh, you both look so precious!" Angie gushes as she hands Star her phone back. Star looks down at the picture and blushes a little. She had taken a bunch of pictures with Marco before, but this one... this one felt different.

"Aww man, my hair was a little messed up." Marco chimes in over Star's shoulder.

Star giggles. Putting up her phone, she rustles Marco's hair. "You look fine!"

"Hey! Don't mess it up more!" Marco shouts as he swats Star's hand away. Star continues to snicker as she watches Marco fix his hair.

"Oh, you look fine Marco!" Angie says as she licks her hand and smooths out her son's hair. "Now get going you two before you're late!" she says, pushing Marco toward the door.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh!" Marco says, dusting himself off. "Let's get going Star."

"Okay!" Star says, following him out the door.

"You be careful you two!" Rafael says, waving goodbye.

Angie comes up next to Rafael, resting herself on his arm. "Don't those two look so cute together?" She says smiling, watching the boy and girl walking off in the distance.

"Si," Rafael sighs. "Reminds me of when I took you to the dance." Rafael smiles, looking down at his wife. Angie giggles as she remembers their younger days.

"What will we do if they have the same kind of dance we did?" She asks, walking her fingers up her husband's arm.

"Then we better start practice dancing for the wedding!" Rafael shouts as he takes the laughing Angie in his arms, dancing back into the house.

* * *

A small mirror has the Diaz family home in its reflection. Suddenly, the mirror gets pulled back into a bush.

"Order your men to follow Star butterfly and keep me updated!" A voice from the mirror says. The two rats looking into it nod in response.

"You two, search the house for the book!"


	3. Chapter 3

**It's Lit! Thank you guys so much for following the story and favoring it! You have no idea how hype that made me XD. I was literally jumping out of my chair and doing little dances every time I saw someone followed. I even bit my tongue goofing around yesterday lol. I hope you guys continue to like the story! Also, please give me feedback on how I can improve. I am new to writing stories and I know I could do better.**

 **ATTN: 1/27/19 This is half of this chapter! I wanted to put in one more chapter before the weekend was over, but it took longer than I thought it was going to take. I will post the other half hopefully in about 2 or 3 days.**

 **ATTN: 1/29/19 Full chapter is up! Enjoy!**

* * *

"So what are dances like here on earth?" Star asks. She was no stranger to dancing. The bounce lounge was her main hangout and she had attended many boring royal balls on Mewni, but this was her first time ever going to a high school dance.

"I'd figure it's not that different from a Mewni dance." Marco explains, "It's just a room full of people, music, dancing, and refreshments."

"Ooo, refreshments!"

"Yeah haha, one time me and Ferguson had a drinking contest at the punch bowl in middle school. We drank so much punch that we had to... actually, never mind."

Star laughs, "Well, be sure to show me a Good time, without weird bathroom breaks."

"Haha, sure."

"I wonder who else is going together?" Star ask.

"Now that you mention it, there is not that much chemistry going on in our class."

"Yeah, that's kinda weird ain't it?" Star gets a smug face. "Pretty soon people are going to be thinking you and Jackie are a thing though! You guys going to the movies together and stuff." Star says while elbowing Marco in his side.

"Ha, yeah right! As if people would think Jackie would date a loser like me! You and I hang out more than anyone, i'm pretty sure we look like a couple to people more than anything."

"Marco you are not a loser!" Star scolds her friend. "But I guess your right, we do hang out a lot… I wonder if people do think that about us?"

"I wouldn't put it Against them." Marco shrugs.

"Oh no!" Star grabs Marco by the collar. "What if Jackie thinks we are a thing!?"

"Nah, or else she wouldn't have asked me to the dance." Marco says while removing Star's grip from his shirt.

"But she did! and you turned her down, for me!" Star panics. "Marco this could be bad!"

"No-no, you are just thinking too much into it Star." Marco says as he readjust his shirt. "I told Jackie I had asked you first, so I'm sure she knows that I'm just doing what is right."

"Maybe…" Star says, still unsure if that is the case. "If we see Jackie at the dance though, don't be afraid to lay down some moooves." Star says while doing a little dance.

"Haha, I'll keep that in mind." Marco Chuckles.

Marco and Star arrive to the Echo Creek Dance. They are immediately greeted by whistle blows from the basketball game.  
Star lets out a loud gasp.

"Marco! You told be dances on earth were the same as on Mewni, but we don't have basketball games!"

"Uhh, yeah… usually we don't have those."

"EXPOSE HIM!" Star shouts as she cheers on the home team.

"Corsage for the lady?" Principal Skeeves says as he appears with a box of Corsages.

"What's a corsage?" Star asks.

"I honestly have no idea… it's just a thing you put on your date I guess?"

"Ooo"

Marco sees Star is curious, so he grabs one and pins it on her.  
"Neat!" Star looks up at Marco and smiles. "Thanks Marco!" For some reason, Marco fells his heart skip a beat at that simple smile. What was that about? He wonders.

"So what should we do first?" Star asks.

This snaps Marco back into reality."Oh, uhh… I guess, find a table?" Marco says as he looks around.

Marco leads the way and finds an empty table for them to sit. They sit across from each other on the round, cheap plastic covered table. An awkward silence falls between them as they look around, not too sure of what to do next.  
"So"

"Sooo"

"Oh sorry! You first." Star says.

"Oh it's nothing! I was just trying to get a conversation started."

"Hehe, yeah, I'm not really sure what to talk about..."

"Me either... I have never really been to a dance with a date before." Marco shrugs.

"Oh me and Tom uses to go dancing all the time! He would spend most the time making sure no one was looking or talking to me though." Star sighs. "It was really annoying."

"Yeah, that does sounds rough."

"Oh it was! Believe me!" Star says as she slumps over on the table remembering her dates with Tom.

Suddenly, Marco shouts, waving his fist, "Hey buddy, who do you think you are looking at!? She is with me!"

Star quickly looks behind her to see who he is talking to and sees a mirror behind her. She breaks out in laughter.

"Yeah, that was basically Tom!" Giggles Star.

Marco laughs. "I can see his reason for being so protective though, even if he was overboard."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, you are a super cool girl, you know? You're funny, outgoing, easy to get along with, cute, and always making everything a blast! Any guy would love to have you." Marco says confidently. When Marco looks over at Star though, he sees she is wide eyed, with a slight blush on her face.

"I-I mean, that's how I'm sure everyone sees you anyway!" Marco laughs nervously, scratching the back of his head avoiding eye contact.

"Uh, haha, thanks Marco..." Star says, not wanting to look Marco in the eyes either.

"Umm, no problem... Geez, pretty hot in here huh?" Marco says pulling on his collar.

"Y-Yeah, hehe…" Star's eyes wander around the room, trying to find something to break this awkward air. The punch bowl soon makes its way in front of her searching eyes.

"Hey, refreshments! Want some punch Marco?" She says, quickly getting up from the table without even hearing his answer.

"Yes! Yes Please!" Marco quickly responds.

"Okay! I'll be right back!" Star says as she takes off, almost running.

Marco Buries his red face in his hands. "Oh boy, that was sooo awkward."

"Hey Marco!" A Familiar voice says as they approach the table.

Star is at the punch bowl and starts to think to herself as she grabs two servings, _"_ _T_ _hat was awkward… but, it did feel kind_ _of_ _nice to hear him say that."_ Star smiles a little. _"_ _O_ _kay!"_ Star clears her thoughts. _"_ _Marco was just being nice,_ _n_ _o need to make it weird._ _I_ _Just need to brush it off,_ _get some punch,_ _and_ _have a fun time together!_ _"_ She says to herself as she looks at her reflection in the punch bowl. _"Together... I wonder if others really do see us as a couple?_ _M_ _e and Marco?..._ _N_ _o, that would be weird!... Wouldn't it? I mean, he is my best friend after all, and we are roommates..._ _I_ _t would make sense though._ _H_ _e is like the only boy I really hang out with and we hang out practically everyday._ _W_ _ould anything even really be different if we went out? I mean, what is 'dating' compared to what we already do? It's practically the same thing,_ _right?_ _… except..._ _he_ _would hold_ _my_ _hand, … and l_ _ook at me more,_ _…_ and _hug_ _me more, … and_ _let me ware his hoodies_ _,_ _… and play with my hair_ _,_ _…_ _a-and k-kiss_ _me_ _."_ Stars face is almost as red as the punch at this point. _"T_ _hat would_ _so_ _be weird!"_ Stars shakes her head trying to regain herself. _"Why am I even thinking about this stuff anyway?_ _Marco is just my friend, and he likes Jackie anyway! G_ _et your head out the gutter_ _Star!"_ Star sighs, _"Still... I'm glad he decided to go with me to the dance." she says,_ letting out a small smile. "Ooo, wings!" Star says as she sees a plate of wings close by.

Marco looks up to see that its none other than Jackie Lynn Thomas. In a beautiful sea foam green dress.

"H-hey Jackie! How's it going?" Marco says nervously to his unexpected visitor. _"She looks amazing!"_ He screams in his head.

"I'm doing fine, just walking around seeing what's what." Jackie says in her usual cool demeanor. "Thinking of ditching though have you seen the set up here?" she says as she motions to the crude display.

"Haha, yeah, it's kind of all over the place huh?" Marco says as he dodges an in coming basketball met by a referee whistle. "Uhh, sorry again that I couldn't go with you."

"Nah, don't sweat it! You asked Star first anyway… Speaking of Star, where is she?" Jackie ask as she looks around for the princess.

"Oh, she went to get some punch for both of us."

"Isn't that the guys job?" Jackie elbows him.

"Yeah, but don't let Janna hear you say that."  
They both start laughing.

Star makes her way back to the table with the punch in her hands and a plate of wings on her head.  
 _"_ _I wonder if Marco is happy he came with me too?"_ Star wonders. _"_ _H_ _e seemed not to mind that he didn't go with Jackie."_  
Soon, Star sees Marco laughing and calls out to him. "Hey Marco! I got punch and guess what? I found wings!" Star beams as she points to the top of her head. She then sees Jackie with Marco and how they are looking at each other, ... how Marco is looking at her.

A thought then pops up in her head,

 _ **Why can't he look at me that way?**_

Star feels a pain in her chest and looks down, realizing she has dropped everything.  
"Oh no! What am I doing!? I got punch everywhere, and on my dress!" Star looks over and sees the wings are sprawled out on the floor, getting soaked in the punch also. "Not the wings!"  
She then runs to the bathroom to clean herself up and grab some paper towels for the spill.  
"Why did I do that? Ugh, what a mess! I don't even know why that surprised me so much... I told Marco if he saw Jackie to talk to her!" Star lets out a big groan and looks up into the bathroom mirror. "... I don't know what going on."

Star heads back out to clean the spill with a wad of paper towels in hand, but before she can start, a basketball player comes dribbling towards her. "No No, watch out! There is a spill!" Her warnings are unheard, and the basket ball player steps on a wet wing, causing him to slide all the way across the room, crashing into some tables by where Jackie and Marco are.  
"Sorry" Star shouts!

"It's cool!" The player says, giving a thumbs up as his team mates pull him out from the rubble.

Marco sees the whole ordeal and rushes over to Star with Jackie following behind. Star sees them approaching and gets down to clean, trying to calm herself down and act normal.

"Hey Star, what happened?" Marco asks.

"Oh its nothing! I just spilled some stuff." Star says nonchalant.

"Are you okay? Here, let me help." Marco say says he gets on his knees grabbing some paper towels.

"I'll help too." Jackie says as she grabs some also.

"No, you guys don't have to do that!" Star quickly grabs the towels from their hands. "Go and dance or something!"

"Come on Star, let us help you." Marco protests.

"No no, its fine! I don't even know why I grabbed these paper towels!" Star says as she tosses them behind her. "I can just clean this with my wand!" Star pulls out her wand reassuring them. Star looks over at Jackie. "Jackie, take Marco and go dancing! Ill get this cleaned up in a jiff!" She says as she twirls her wand in her hand.

"You want me to go dance with Marco?" Jackie asks, surprised.

"D-dance? M-me and Jackie?"

"Yeah, it will be fun! Go dance! Don't worry about me, i'll get this cleaned up and go check on that basket ball player to make sure he is alright. In the meantime, you guys go have fun!"

"Well... if it's okay with you Star." Jackie says.

"Yes please, I insist! I don't want you guys to have to wait on me."

Looking over to Marco Jackie smiles and extends out her hand. "Come on then Diaz, lets see what you can do!"

Marco looks to Star, who is motioning for him to go. He gulps as he takes Jackie's hand. _"Was this really happening? Am I really going to dance with Jackie Lynn Thomas?"_ He thought.

Jackie pulls on Marco and leads the way to the dance floor. Star watches them leave and smiles. "So cute." She says, but it feels like something is tugging at her heart as she looks upon them. _"What is this?"_ she wonders. Marco suddenly looks Back at Star to double check if she is alright. Star gives a small thumbs up and shoots a little spell in the air with her wand. Suddenly, a little banner explodes with "I'm rooting for you!" written on it. Marco smiles and gives Star a thumbs up back. Star smiles back, but why does it feel so... bitter?

Jackie and Marco arrive on the dance floor. Jackie looks to Marco and smiles, putting her arms on Marco's shoulders. Marco tenses up, and moves his hands awkwardly around Jackie, not too sure of where he should hold her.

"Relax dude." Jackie laughs.

"R-relax? Hehe, I'm perfectly relaxed!" Marco says, as he can still be seen struggling on where to place his hands. "ahh, uhhh?"

"Haha, dude, you gotta put them on my waist."

"R-right!" Marco slowly places his hands on Jackie's waist. He looks up nervously at Jackie and notices her cool and collected smile. A little red in the cheeks, Macro smiles back. They look into each other's eyes and begin to dance.

With a flick of her wand, Star summons a trash eating gnome, who slurps up all of the mess on the ground. Star looks at Marco and Jackie dancing as she walks over to the basketball player to see if he is okay. "Why does it feel so weird when I see them together like that?" She wonders. "I don't get it... This never bothered me before, so why now? Marco is dancing with the girl of his dreams! Shouldn't I be happy for him?..."

"I guess I still get to dance with you today after all." Jackie says.

"Yeah, I guess so." Marco laughs.

"I feel a little bad that I took you from Star though," Jackie looks to the ground. "but... she did say we could dance together." A guilty smile shows on her face.

" _Why does she have to be so cute!"_ Marco screams in his head.

"I was kind of bummed that I couldn't go with you to the dance, but this is still nice."

Marco's head races. _"Am I hearing this right?_ _Jackie Lynn Thomas was 'bummed' that she didn't go with me?…_ _W_ _ait?"_

"Who did you end up coming with anyway?" Marco asks. "Should I even be dancing with you!?" Marco says as he looks around for Jackie's date, who is probably running up to punch him in the face.

Jackie laughs. "I didn't come with anybody. I just showed up to see if the dance was going to be fun or not."

"So, you are by yourself?"

"Yup."

"What? How?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? You are Jackie Lynn Thomas! You are like the most beautiful and amazing girl in our whole school!"

"Marcooo!" Jackie blushes as she looks down.

Marco, realizing what he just said, gets embarrassed. "I-I mean, well, ... its true Jackie, so I find it very hard to believe that not one guy asked you out to the dance."

"I mean, you didn't ask me." Jackie says as she looks to the side. "I had to ask you." she says in a sassy way.

Marco is caught by his own words. "W-well yeah, but..."

"But what?" Jackie asks, giving Marco a teasing grin.

"W-well…" Marco stammers as he tries to find the words to say.

"Or is it," Jackie's tone turns somber as she looks down. "You didn't want to go with me?" Jackie looks up at Marco with glossy, searching eyes.

"No! I would have loved to go with you Jackie!

"Then how come you didn't ask me?"

"I… Wanted to, but…" Marco sighs. "This is going to sound stupid, but I had a bad dream that I went to the dance alone, and you were there and you called me pasty, and my teeth feel out..."

Jackie looks at Marco like he's crazy."Uhh, Marco... I don't think you are ever going be pasty any time soon." she laughs. "So was that it? You didn't ask me to the dance because of some dumb dream?"

"I panicked, and I knew Star would go if I asked her... so I did."

"So, if you never had that dream, you would have asked me first?"

Marco, wanting to be honest, thought about all the things that would be needed to work up the courage to ask Jackie to the dance. "Well it would depended on the weather, how I was feeling that day, if I had on my favorite shirt, ate a well balanced breakfast, actually... I would be too nervous to eat breakfas-"

"Marco!" Jackie interrupts his rambling. "Would you or wouldn't you?"

"I would have!" He quickly responds.

Jackie smiles. "I see..." She says with a slight blush appearing on her cheeks. Marco is too embarrassed to look Jackie in the eyes.

Suddenly Jackie breaks away and yells. "hey DJ! Turn it to something we can move too!" The music then changes from slow dance, to an upbeat party song.

"Show me what you got Diaz." Jackie says as she motions Marco to come dance with her.

Marco grins and joins her.

Star approaches the basketball player who slipped on her spill.

"Hey" Star says, in a low, uninterested, depressed tone, not even looking at him.

"uhh, hey?" The player responds as he stands in his free throw stance ready to shoot.

"You okay? Any broken bones or anything?" Stars asks, slumped over with the same tone.

"uhh, i'm trying to shoot a free throw here?" he responds. Figuring Star got the message, the Player squats down and aims.

"Cus', I can zap you with my wand and get you fixed up." Star says, causing the player to loose focus and look at her annoyed. Star swings her wand lazily around, shooting a stray spell here and there. "see?"

"Are you okay?" The player asks, annoyed.

"Yeah," Star sighs, "it's just I feel all weird."

"Why?" He asks as he aims again.

"Well, Marco asked me to the dance, then Jackie asked him, but he turned her down because he asked me first, and I told him to go with her, but he was all like 'No Star, I want to go with you!', so I was like 'okayyy', then blah blah blah… Smelly butts … blah blah blah … 'Ay, Mejo' ... blah blah blah ... corsage … blah blah blah .. I went to get some punch. … blah blah blah ... Dance with Jackie...

The basket ball player rolls his eyes as he listens to star ramble.

"Its just… whenever I see him with Jackie, he looks so happy with her... and I get all weird inside."

"Well," The player says as he squats and shoots. "It sounds like you are jealous to me." The basketball goes through with a perfect swish.

"Jealous!? Me Jealous!? "Star says, appalled that he would even think that. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head or anything?" Star says as she looks around examining his head for injury.

The player shrugs. "Just saying how I see it." He aims and shoots again,"you sound jealous." Another perfect swish. The free throw phase is over, and he waves Star goodbye as he gets back into the game.

Star waves back, and lets his observation slowly sink in as she heads back to her table. " _Me… jealous? Am I really jealous?_ "

Star sits back down at the table and looks at Marco and Jackie dancing in the distance.

She cannot deny it…

she wants him to look at her, like he looks at Jackie

to smile at her like that...

to be nervous around her like that...

to...

Star buries her face in her arms. _"Why do I have to feel this way!?"_ she groans.

"Wow, not bad Diaz!" Jackie says as she dances with Marco. "I didn't know you had some moves!"

"Yeah, hehe, I took salsa classes for a while."

"Oh? Maybe you can teach me a thing or two sometime then." Jackie smiles.

"Y-yeah, for sure!" Marco beams.

" _wow this is great! me and Jackie Lynn Thomas dancing the night away!_ _This is_ _like a dream come true!"_ Marco sings in his head.

Marco and Jackie dance for a while longer and then out of the corner of his eye, Marco sees Star sitting with her head down at the table.

"Star?" Marco stops dancing causing Jackie to wonder whats wrong.

"What's up?" Jackie asks as she looks over to see what Marco is looking at.

"Uh, sorry Jackie, I-I'm gonna go ahead and take a break." Marco says as he begins to walk away towards Star. Marco stops and turns around to face Jackie, "I-it was nice dancing with you!" he says.

"Oh, umm, yeah! you too.." Jackie says as she sees Star in the distance, realizing why he was in such a rush.

They exchange an awkward smile and then Marco turns to leave. Jackie extends her hand out as if to say something else, but then decides not too. Looking down, she lets out a sigh, disappearing in the dancing crowd.

"Hey Star, you ok?" Marco asks as he places a hand on Star's shoulder.

Star turns around to see who it is. "Marco!?" Star jumps up from her seat and quickly wipes her eyes."oh, umm, yeah, I was just uhh.. I was just feeling a little fuzzy in the head is all!" Star weakly smiles.

"where you… crying?" Marco asks as he gets closer to Star.

"No!" Star says as she steps back with her hands up. "I was just... feeling a little under the weather."

"Why are your eyes red though?" Marco asks, concerned.

"It's probably just allergies or something!" Star says as she double checks her eyes to make sure they are dry. "I'm okay, really!"

"Do you want to go lay down or something?"

"No no, i'm fine!" Star says as she gives a big smile this time. "What are you doing back here? Weren't you dancing with Jackie?" She asks.

"oh, um… we finished already." Marco weakly responds, not wanting to let her know she was the reason he came rushing back.

"oh, ok…" Star says as she sits back down.

Marco sits down across from Star."… I'm sorry Star." He says with his head down.

"Huh, Why?"

"I shouldn't have just left you all alone like that, that was pretty lame of me."

"Noo! I'm the one that told you to go dance with Jackie!" Star reassures him.

"Yeah but... I was with Jackie way too long, and you are over here feeling bad all by yourself, and I'm supposed to be your date!" Marco slams his palm into his face. "ugh! im such a jerk!"

"Nooo Marco." Star says softly as she reaches across the table gently grabbing Marco's wrist to stop him from face palming. "Like I said, everything is fine. I was just feeling a little fuzzy in the head and 'I' was the one that told 'you' to go hang out with Jackie."

"But..."

"Marco its fine!" Star moves her hands up from his wrist and gently holds his hand with both of hers. "Trust me, I'm ok!" Star says as she gives him the most sweetest, reassuring smile he has ever seen in his life. Star knew she was not telling him the truth… but knowing that he cares about her this much, makes her feel very warm inside, causing her forget the cold darkness that was haunting her just moments before. This was enough for her.

Marco sighs, "Alright... you need anything?"

"umm, some punch would be nice, since ya know... I kinda spilled it all over the place." Star chuckles.

"Haha, alright, i'll go get you some." Marco smiles.

Star watches Marco as he leaves. Smiling, she rest her head on the table in her arms. "Marco... always so considerate." she giggles.

As Marco pours Star a cup, he notices Jackie leaving. Quickly, he finishes and heads over to Jackie.

"Hey, Heading out already?" He asks.

"Yeah... kind of done all I could here." She says.

"oh ok... well, it was nice getting to dance with you. Sorry I had to leave like that."

"No worries dude, sorry I took you away from Star like that… Is she alright?"

"Yeah shes fine, she said she was just feeling a little fuzzy in the head because of... allergies... so don't worry about it."

"Oh… okay, that's good."

An awkward silence falls between them.

"Well, I'm gonna head out, see you later Marco." Jackie says as she waves goodbye and turns around to leave.

"Y-yeah see ya..." Marco turns around to return to Star but stops and calls out to Jackie. "H-hey Jackie..."

Jackie stops and turns. "Yeah?"

"W-whenever you want, I can show you some more dance moves... uhh you know, just in case you wanted to learn. Not that you need to learn or anything like that! You are a good dancer! Its just that you brought it up earlier and I uhhhh..."

"haha, yeah! ... That would be cool." Jackie says as she smiles at the mumbling Marco.

"O-Okay, yeah! hehe, well... just let me know when."

"I will" Jackie says as she looks down at the ground grinning. "Thanks Marco, ill see you later." Looking up, Jackie gives Marco one more smile and waves goodbye.

"Bye Jackie!" Marco smiles back and waves goodbye. Turning around to head back to Star, Marco cant contain his excitement and pumps his arm In the air, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" He says with a big cheeky grin. Forgetting he has punch in his other hand, Marco almost spills it. "uhhh,uhhh!" He says as he tries to get his balance back and rushes back to Star.

"Hey, Sorry about that wait." Marco says as he hands Star her punch.

"No worries!

"Here you go"

"Thanks buddy!" Star says as she takes the cup in her hands. Star takes a drink and sees Marco staring at her.

"What?"

"You sure you are okay?"

"Yes Marcoooo" Star sighs. "I'm fine!"

"You sure?" Marco brings his face closer to Star to get a better look at her, causing her to blush a little. "You seem kind of red..." He then puts his hand on stars forehead. Star gets even more flustered.

"You are pretty hot."

"I-I'm what!?"

"You sure you don't have a fever or something?"

"O-oh that's what you meant..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing!" Star swipes Marco's hand away. "Marco, I'm fine ok? Just let me just drink my punch!" she says as she takes a big swig.

"Okay... but if you start to feel weird again, let me know and we can go home." Marco says as he sits back down.

Star eyes Marco as she drinks.

"What?" Marco asks.

Star looks down at the table. "So,... how was your dance with Jackie?"

Marco, caught off guard by her question gets flustered.

"Oh, yeah, i-it was cool…"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, hehe, she said I was a good dancer." Marco smiles bashfully.

"Well you are a good dancer! Mr. Mariachi Skeleton Mask." Star giggles.

Marco laughs, "It's been a while since we danced, huh?"

"Yeah,... it has been a while." Star says wistfully.

"Want to dance then?"

"Huh?" Star looks up at Marco, unsure if she heard him right.

"Oh Sorry,… you are not feeling well huh?"

"N-no! We can dance! We can sooo dance!" Star says as she downs the rest of her punch and stands up.

"Well ok then, haha." Marco stands up and offers his hand to Star.

Star looks at his hand, then at him, and smiles. Marco smiles back and leads the way to the dance floor.

They stand in front of each other, surrounded by people slow dancing.

"You ready?" Marco ask.

"Yup!" Star chirps.

With no hesitation, Marco puts his hands on Star's waist. Surprised, Star flinches and gets flustered.

"Oh, sorry!" Marco says as he quickly retracts his hands.

"No-No! I-I was just caught off guard is all" Star nervously chuckles.

" _Calm down Star!"_ she screams in her head. _"Okay."_ She takes a deep breath.

Star slowly raises her hands and hesitates, but manages to place her hands on Marco's shoulders.

Marco slowly puts his hands back on Star's waist.

They look up at each other and giggle.

Marco takes the first step and they begin to dance.

"Nice to get to see your face this time." Star jest.

"Nice to see you in P blue this time." He laughs.

"Yeah… but I got a big ol' punch stain on it." Star says as she looks down at her dress.

"Heh, I'm sure you had one on the other one too, but just couldn't tell."

"Haha, yeah, Probably." Star laughs as she remembers her red dress at the blood moon ball.

"This is nice." Marco says.

"Yeah, ... it is." Star says, closing her eyes enjoying the moment.

"Usually, we are fighting monsters or going on some crazy adventure, but it's nice to just hang out like this every once and a while."

Star opens her eyes. "Well, what bout friendship Thursday? We just hang out don't we?"

"Yeah…" Marco slowly admits. "but I guess doing something more than sitting on the couch and eating pizza and nachos is what I mean."

"Yeah, hehe, I guess you are right." Star laughs.

Looking up at Marco Star cant help but smile. _"_ _Wow... I feel so happy now. It's like all the bad stuff I was feeling a while ago is just gone."_

Marco cant help but smile back at star. _"Wow... Star looks really pretty today... I mean she is cute, but... she looks really cute today… Oh no!"_ Marco breaks into a cold sweat. _"Now I'm starting to feel self-conscious."_

They both look into each others eyes and form a slight blush.

"st-"

"mar"

"oh sorry!"

"oh sorry!"

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

They grin.

"Jinx!"

"Jinx!"

"Stop that!"

"Stop that!"

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

They pause and start laughing.

"Haha, that's twice today." Marco says.

"Ever since the blood moon ball, we do that a lot now. It's so weird!" Star laughs.

Their eyes meet again.

" _I wonder if we think the same thoughts too?"_

" _I wonder if we think the same thoughts too?"_

They both say in their head, as they look at each other in anticipation.

" _B_ _link your left ey_ _e"_ Marco thinks.

" _S_ _tick out your tongue"_ Star thinks.

They both do what they individually thought. Realizing what just happened, they break out in laughter.

"Looks like we were thinking the same thing, but had different ideas." Star chuckles.

"Haha, yeah"

"That's so funny."

They continue to look at each other and dance.

"You know Star... I'm really glad I met you." Marco gently smiles.

"Aww Marco! Me too." Star smiles back.

They get close to hug as they dance. They enjoy the moment, but suddenly they turn bright red.

 **" _We hug all the time but..."_**

 **" _but this is kinda..."_**

Suddenly, a red ray shines down on them through the window. They slowly part and look down, then back up at each other. Their eyes shimmer, as they get lost in each other's eyes. Closing their eyes, they slowly go into each other for a kiss. As there lips are about to meet, A basketball player bumps into them and knocks them over.

"Ouch! hey, watch it!" Marco shouts

"Sorry bro!" The player says as he gets back in the game.

"Star, you okay?" Marco asks as he helps her up.

"Yeah, I think so…"

"I really don't know why they let the basketball game happen today…" Marco says rubbing his head.

"Y-yeah..." Star says, still trying to process what was happening. _"_ _What were Marco_ _and I_ _just_ _about_ _to do!?"_ The thought spins in her head.

"Hey Star." Marco says, waking up Star out of her head.

"Y-yeah!?"

"You want to head out already? I don't think there is much else for us to do here." Marco motions behind them. "and it looks like the basketball game is going into overtime." He says rolling his eyes. "We could go get some pizza or something?" he suggest.

"Oh, uhh, yeah sure! Let me just go get my stuff." Star says as she heads back to the table to get her belongings. _"What_ _were we about to do!_ _?"_ She screams in her head, trying to figure out what was happening.

" _What were we about to do?"_ Marco also wonders as he waits by the door for Star, puzzled.

Star comes running back and they take their leave.

As they walk down the sidewalk, rats emerge from the shadows, following close by.

* * *

 **Woot! I finished this chapter finally! This is becoming a real fun hobby for me, but its does get real frustrating at times. I want to be more articulate and beautiful with my words, but I fall short. Plus, I just want to rush and get it out. After these next two chapters though, it will be all off the top of my head since my script only went through two more scenes lol. I even added a lot extra to this scene and took a few things out. This is really helping flesh out the story more than I originally planned. Hope you guys can still rock with it! Till next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Its finally here! Sorry to keep you waiting! I feel like such a hypocrite T.T Back in the day when I used to read a lot of fanfics I would be so mad when people would not post for months on their story and I would always tell my self "If I ever make a fanfic I would never go that long without posting! I would at least make sure I could post every week." Well, look at you now you idiot! XD Again i'm sorry guys it took so long. You know, Life got in the way, started working more, some drama, and *cough cough* Apex legends...(I'm trash btw lol) This Chapter... I was not really feeling it to be honest. I added A LOT, and I mean A LOT to this one than I originally had, because it would just not work! Plus, I had some new ideas. This is where it starts to get real "fanficcy" and I know you guys have acknowledged how I try to stay true to the characters and I really appreciate you for noticing! But yeah,... idk if you are going to feel the same way on this one.. lol. So, without further a do, lets get it!"**

* * *

Marco and Star are walking down the sidewalk into town. Star looks deep in thought, trying to sort her head out.

" _What were we about to do?" she wonders. "It kind of felt like... we were going to..."_ Turning red at the thought, Star looks over to Marco.

Seeing Star looking at him out of the corner of his eye, Marco turns to see what is wrong. Star quickly looks away and shakes her head.

Confused, Marco ask, "Soo... uhh, what do you want to do Star?"

Star jumps, "Huh, what?"

"You know, get some pizza? Burritos? Rent a movie? You pick, I'm cool with whatever." Marco shrugs.

"Oh..." Star stops to think. "Hey! How about we hang out with Janna!?" Star suggest, remembering her previous plans with Janna.

"Janna? What is she doing?"

"Well apparently, a dead clown is supposed to come back to life today, since it's his '100th death day!'" Star says as she wiggles her fingers in the air for dramatic effect. "Janna and I were going to wait at the graveyard tonight to see if he really would come back!"

"Of course she would be at a graveyard." Marco scoffs. "Wait..." Realizing what Star just said. "You were supposed to go to the graveyard with Janna? Why did you agree to go to the dance with me then?" He asks.

Star shrugs. "I didn't know it was today until you had already asked me to go with you."

"Oh, you could have still gone Star... I wouldn't have minded."

"Yeah... but, you seemed really worried to go alone, and I couldn't just bail on you like that."

Marco looks to the ground and sighs. "Man, I feel bad now."

"Why?"

"I kept you from doing something you wanted to do... just because of some dumb dream."

"That's not true Marco, I-"

"First, I take you to a dance even though you already had plans."

"Marco,-"

"Then, I leave you alone when you are not feeling well to go dance with Jackie! Even though I'm supposed to be there with you!"

"No Marco, I-"

Marco groans in frustration. "I'm such a jerk!" Marco then lets out a sigh. "I'm Sorry Star." He says, looking down at the ground.

"Marco!" Star shouts, causing him to snap to attention.

"I never said that I didn't want to go to the dance with you." Star puts her hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "Yeah, some stuff happened." She shrugs. "But I did have fun... and a really good time with you." She smiles.

Marco gets slightly flustered at this and looks away."W-well I'm glad you at least had some fun..." He then takes into account what he just did. _"Wait... why did I look away like that?"_ he asks himself.

Star looks at the boy curiously.

Marco, seeing he is the one attracting confused eyes now, takes a deep breath to calm himself. Clapping his hands together, Marco announces, "Well! Since you accompanied me to the dance, something I wanted to do, Let's go do something you want to do. To the Graveyard!"

Star's face lights up. "Bon Bon!" she cheers.

Before they can take their first step toward the graveyard though, a loud growling erupts from Star's stomach."Eh-heh, but first, lets get something to eat." Star bashfully smiles as she rubs her stomach. "I'm kinda hungry."

"Haha Yeah, me too." Marco chuckles.

"To Britta's Tacos! Then, the Graveyard!" Star announces.

After a slight detour, now with burritos in hand and a bag for Janna. Star and Marco resume their journey to the graveyard.

"So, did this Bon Bon guy get killed or something and swear revenge?" Marco asks.

"Nah, he just blew up."

"Blew up? How?"

"I don't know." Star shrugs as she takes a bite of her burrito. "Apparently he was showing everyone these trick candles that come back after you blow them out and then, BOOM!"

"Hmm... sounds suspicious."

"You think?"

"I mean, why would candles just explode like that?"

"Maybe because it was a new thing and still not 100% ready?"

Taking a bite of his burrito, Marco speculates that there is more to the death of Bon Bon than history tells. "I don't know... smells fishy to me."

"Smells like Burritos to me." A voice says. Suddenly, a figure emerges from the bushes, startling Marco, who lets out a... less than manly scream.

"Eeeeek! ... Huh? J-Janna!?" Marco says, catching his breath after realizing who it is.

"Hey." Janna says nonchalantly. She then reaches over and takes a bite of Marco's burrito.

"Hey, that's mine!" Marco yells, quickly pulling his burrito close.

"I know." Janna smirks.

"Hey Janna Banana!" Star steps between them. "Here! We got you one too." She says, handing Janna her bag.

"Aww, thanks Star." Janna smiles, taking the gift. "Glad you could make it after all."

"Yup! So what have you been doing?" Star ask.

"Well, you know, building shines and making summoning circles." Janna shrugs. "The usual."

"Any sign of bonbon?" Star giddily ask.

"Nope, not yet." Janna says as she fishes her burrito out of the bag.

While they are conversing, Marco stares at his burrito where Jana took a bite. Disgusted, he tears the top off, tossing it behind him. Annoyed, he asks, "So, ... What do we do? Just wait around until this 'Clown Ghost' shows up?"

"Pretty much." Janna responds, reclining on a near tombstone to eat her burrito.

Marco looks to Star, who just shrugs and sits down to eat also. Letting out a sigh, Marco joins them.

As they are eating, Janna eyes Star and Marco. "Oh by the way, you guys look nice."

"Aww! Thanks Janna!" Star smiles.

"If we were to die and become zombies, you guys would totally look like something out of a bad zombie prom movie!" Janna smirks.

"Uh…thanks Janna?" Marco says, unsure if that was even a complement.

"No prob, I love bad zombie movies." Janna says as she takes another bite of her burrito. They sit in silence. Nothing can be heard but Janna and Star's chewing.

"Sooooo" Marco says.

"Hmm?" Stars responds.

"I don't know... are we really just going to sit here and wait for some dead clown?"

"Well, what else do you do in a graveyard?" Janna ask.

"Oh! I know! What about a game!?" Star chimes in.

"Play a game in a graveyard? Yeah, no thanks." Marco responds.

"A game you say?" Janna says as she pops the last of her burrito in her mouth. "Okay, I got a game for you guys." Janna heads over to another tombstone and brings back her backpack. Opening it up, she pulls out a strange looking board with a spinner in the middle.

"What is that?" Marco ask.

"Truth... or dare!" Janna says with a mischievous grin as she holds the board up.

Star quickly downs her burrito and jumps up. "Ooo Yeah, that sounds like fun!"

"Truth or dare, in a graveyard, at night, with Janna? Yeah... like I said, no thanks." Marco says, turning around to avoid anymore nonsense.

"Oh come on Marco!" Star says, pulling on his arm. "It will be fun!"

"Yeah Marco," Janna says in her flirtatious tone. "It will be fun." She grins.

Placing the board down, Janna and Star sit across from each other. They look over to Marco, patting their hands on an empty space for him to sit.

"Come on Marco!" They both say.

Marco sighs, "I know I'm going to regret this." Eating the last of his burrito, Marco reluctantly goes and sits down.

Janna pulls out the rules and begins reading. "Okay, each player must write their name on a space around the spinner."

Taking out a marker, Janna splits the blank circle holding the spinner into three parts, she then writes her name inside a space and passes it around for the others to do the same.

After everyone writes their name, Janna continues reading, "This is an oath, to follow through with what you are assigned. If you do not tell the truth or complete the dare then you will be penalized until you complete your task. The game is not over until everyone has completed their task.

"An oath? Penalized!? What is all that about?" Marco ask.

"Its just probably being over dramatic." Janna shrugs as she tosses the rules. "Okay! I'll start us off and then we go in a circle." Janna flicks the spinner and they all watch as it goes around. The spinner comes to a stop on Marco's name. Janna slowly turns to Marco and smiles. "Okay Marco, Truth or Dare?" she ask.

Marco sighs. "Of course I'm first, ...Truth."

Janna eyes Star and grins. "So... did you do anything 'interesting' with Star at the dance today?

 **"interesting?"** Marco and Star both ask?

"you know, something you wouldn't tell others... maybe... a kiss?" Janna smirks.

Marco and Star immediately remember the "moment" they shared before being knocked back by the basketball player. Marco looks to Star, who is already looking at him. When their eyes meet they both turn red and quickly look away.

"What? No way!" Janna laughs. "Did you guys actually kiss!?"

"Huh? No! We never kissed!" Marco quickly responds.

"Y-yeah me and Marco kiss? Pshhh, That would be sooo weird!" Star says.

"Don't lie to me guys," Janna wags her finger in the air. "remember, peeenaaalltyyy."

"I promise! No kissing happened between me and Star. No way!" Marco says.

Janna looks at them both skeptically. They both seem to be in a cold sweat. Eventually, she shrugs it off. "Alright, i'll believe you guys... for now." She says, giving a mischievous look to both of them. "It's your turn now Marco."

"Like I said, nothing like that happened!" Marco says as he hits the spinner.

"We'll see." Janna responds, smirking as she watches the spinner turn.

The spinner comes to a stop on Marco's own name. "What do we do when it lands on your own name?" Marco ask. "Just spin again?"

"Hold on, let me check." Janna says as she turns around to look for the rules she tossed.

While Janna is Looking for the rules, Marco looks over at Star, wondering if she was thinking of the same thing he was when Janna asked her question.

Star sits, hugging her legs and staring at the board. _"Was Marco thinking of the same thing as me?"_ she wonders. Looking up at Marco, she sees he is already looking at her. They both quickly avert their eyes. Slowly, they look at each other again. This time they lock eyes and stay that way. _"If you are thinking the same thing as me Diaz then, ... do the thing!"_ Star says in her head. She then closes her left eye, and Marco sticks out his tongue. A moment passes as they realize what just happened. Both break out in a silent laughter. They were thinking the same thing, and even tried to do the other's idea from last time, but still failed to do the same action.

"Found it!" Janna announces, lifting up the rules. Both Star and Marco jump at this, quickly composing themselves. Janna turns around and reads aloud. "Lets see here, Blah blah blah penalty, blah blah blah curses, blah blah blah ah! Here it is! If a player lands on his or her own name, then they are subject to a truth or dare of the other player(s) choosing!" Janna grins as she reads the last part. "Looks like it's round two for you Diaz."

Marco lifts up his finger to ask a question. "Wait... What was that thing about penalties and curs-"

"Nope," Janna interrupts. "you can't talk your way out of this one Marco! Okay Star, what should we have him do!?"

"Oh, I know!" Star says as she gets closer to Janna and whispers in her ear.

While the girls are whispering and giggling, Marco eyes the rules next to Janna. "I got a bad feeling about this game..." Marco reaches over to grab the rules, but Janna grabs his wrist before he can get to it.

"Alright Diaz, it's time for a dare." She says.

Marco rolls his eyes. "Okay, what is it?"

Star pops up over Janna's shoulder with a big grin, waving Marco's phone in front of his face. "We dare you toooo... call Jackie, and say everything we say!"

"What!? are you crazy!? Marco shouts.

Star calls Jackie and hits the speaker button, she then tosses the phone to Marco. Marco fumbles the phone around in his hands until he finally can grasp it. "What is with you guys!? I have never called Jackie in my life!"

"Well now it's your chance." Janna says, as she and Star quickly get behind Marco.

The phone stars to ring as it calls Jackie. Marco can feel his heart beating faster and faster. This was his first time calling a girl he really liked, and he wasn't even going to be able to say what he wanted to her! _"Oh no, what if they make me say something really stupid!?"_ Marco worries to himself. Meanwhile, Janna and Star can't stop snickering behind him. Finally, the ringing stops and Marco's heart sinks. He can feel the girl's grasp on the back of his suit tighten.

"Hello?" Jackie says.

Marco is petrified. _"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no..."_ he repeats in his head.

Star shakes him around and whispers, "Come on Marco, say hi!"

"Uh, eye I-I mean, Hi h-hey Jackie!" Marco stammers.

Star grins, getting excited. "Ask her how's it going!?"

"H-hows it g-

"Sike!" Jackie shouts from the phone.

"Eep!" Marco yelps, covering his mouth, caught off guard.

"Haha, got you dude! Sorry, I'm not here right now, but leave a message and I'll call you back!"

It was her voicemail! Marco let's out a huge sigh of relief, while those behind him groan in disappointment. The phone beeps to leave a message.

Star shakes him once again "Oh, oh, leave a message!"

"Yeah, tell her you are outside and can see her through the window." Janna says in a creepy tone.

"No no, tell her you can still smell her." Star says in a creepy tone also.

"Still smell her?" Janna asks.

"Yeah, Marco danced with Jackie at the dance today!"

"Woah really? Way to go Marco!" Janna says as she pats Marco on the back, giving him a sly look. "Dancing with Jackie and kissing star? You are a real dog huh?"

"Will you guys shut it!? It's still recording!" Marco panics.

"Ooh okay, tell her you secretly took a piece of her hair, and are keeping it in your Jackie shrine!" Star giggles.

"I do not have a Jackie shrine! and stop trying to get me to say creepy stuff to her!" Marco shouts.

The time frame for the voicemail ends, and an automated message plays, "If you would like to record a new message press one."

"Ah, forget it." Janna grabs the phone and hangs it up.

"Janna!" Marco quickly grabs his phone.

"What? We wont even be able to hear her reaction, so whats the point?" Janna responds.

"Whats the point!? That was my first call to Jackie, and I left her a weird voicemail!"

"That just gives you something to talk about next time you see her then." Janna smirks.

Marco grumbles and looks at his phone. "Maybe I should call her again to clear things up... Nah, she is probably busy, that's why she didn't pick up..." Marco starts to stress as he thinks more about it. "Or she thinks i'm being too clingy, calling her right after the dance ..."

"It's fine Marco." Star pats him on the shoulder. "I'm sure she is just busy. If she does ask about it though, i'll be sure to clear things up for you!"

"Yeah, I guess so..." Marco sighs. "Thanks Star."

"No problem! Alright, my turn!" Star says.

They all return to their seats and Star flicks the spinner. This time it lands on Janna.

"Okay Janna." Star grins, "Truth or dare?"

Janna looks up and thinks for a moment. "Hmmm, lets go with... Truth!"

Star giggles, "Okay, Have you ever... called a guy you liked!?" Star asks, swaying in her seat, excited to hear.

"Oh, this ought to be interesting." Marco says, sure if Janna ever did, she probably would sound like a stalker.

Janna leans in as to if tell a secret. "Well this one time I called Marco from an unknown number, and just breathed over the line until he would hang up." Janna says.

"That was you!?" Marco jumps. "I couldn't sleep the whole week because of that stupid call!"

Janna laughs "I know! It was hilarious!"

"Get out of town Janna!" Marco yells.

Janna continues to laugh and flicks the spinner. "Hahaha, okay, it's my turn now."

Star smiles at them, but thinks to herself, _"I said a guy she likes though..."_

The spinner lands on Marco's name yet again. Janna grins, "Looks like the spins are stuck on you."

Marco doesn't to seem to be too amused.

"Truth or dare?" she ask.

"Truth." Marco says unenthusiastically.

"Okay, How many times have you practice kissed a pillow pretending it was Jackie?"

Marco quickly gets flustered. "W-what!? What kind of question is that?"

"I'm waiting." Janna smiles.

Marco lets out a sigh. "Since middlesch-"

"And," Janna adds. "used Star's clothes to dress it up."

"I uh..." Marco looks at Janna, then at Star, who is looking at him wide eyed. He quickly looks away.

"I-I mean, it was just once..." Marco says, rubbing the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. "wait, how did y-"

"Ah, exactly as my information confirms." Janna says boastfully. "Good, you are telling the truth."

"What you already knew!?" Marco shouts.

"Well duh, I know basically everything about you Diaz." Janna grins.

"Uhh… Marco?" Star says, trying to get his attention.

Marco, not wanting to let Star ask anything, quickly gets ready to spin. "Ok! it's my turn!" He says, flicking the spinner. "Please be Janna, Please be Janna, Please be Janna..." Marco begs under his breath.

The spinner comes to a rest on who else, but Janna!

A menacing grin forms on Marco's face as he turns to Janna. "Okay Janna," He says in a foreboding tone."TRUTH or DARE?"

"Oh, this should be interesting." Janna smirks. "Dare."

Marco plans in his head, _"Hmm, Janna is a pretty free spirit, so I got to think of something super crazy!"_

While Marco is thinking, Janna crawls closer to him.

"Uhh... what are you doing?" He ask.

"Aren't you going to dare me to do something crazy? Like I don't know... kiss you or something?" She ask, creeping closer.

"What? No!?" Marco says as he backs up from her.

"Come on Marco, don't be shy." She grins. "I'm better than a pillow."

"I Dare you to stay in your spot and not move for the rest of this game!" Marco quickly shouts.

"Heh, easy." Janna says smugly as she sits back down at her spot.

"Ugh," Marco slaps his forehead, realizing he just got played. "Star it a your turn." He says, defeated.

"Okay..." Star flicks the spinner, which lands on Marco. "Marco, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Marco says low and inattentive, as he is still brooding over his missed opportunity to embarrass Janna.

"What clothes did you use?"

Marco perks up. He forgot all about the earlier instance because of Janna. Remembering, he gets embarrassed again. "W-what? This again?" He sighs. "...It was just those clothes I had on that time I got locked in your secrets closet, and a shirt that I borrowed from you."

"A shirt you borrowed?"

"Yeah, it was one of your old ones, I don't remember what it was."

"It's the bounce lounge shirt, he told you he needed it for a 'friend'" Janna adds.

"Wah- Janna?!" He says, caught off guard.

"What? I told you, I know everything about you." Janna says, as if there was nothing wrong with it.

"I was wondering who it was you were giving that shirt to..." Star says, thinking about it.

"I had to complete the look, okay!? Can we stop bringing this up?" Marco Pleads.

"Okay, it's my turn!" Janna flicks the spinner.

Star, still confused as to why Marco would use her clothes to practice kissing pillows, decides to let it slide... for now.

Janna's spin lands on Star.

"Star, truth or dare?" Janna asks.

Star gets giddy again. "Dare!" She says, eager to finally get picked.

Janna taps her chin as she thinks of something for Star to do. "I Dare you toooooo... become a zombie chicken and eat Marco's brain!"

"What kind of dare is that?" Marco ask.

Star gets up and bends her arms like a chicken, flapping them around. "Bawk! Bawk! Im'a zombie chicken! and I'm gonna peck me some brains! Bawk! Bawk!" She says as she heads over to Marco.

"Star, you're not seriously going to do this are you?" Marco ask lifting up his arms to guard himself in anticipation.

Star rushes towards him and Starts pecking at him with her nose. "Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!"

Marco laughs as he covers himself from Star. "haha, Star stop, it tickles!"

"Bawk Bawk! Using my bounce lounge tee to dress up pillows? Give me them brains boy!" Star squawks as she keeps pecking at him.

"Hahaha, quit it Star!" Marco Laughs as he pushes her away.

Janna leans back and watches them with a slight smile on her face. It was a stupid dare, but she enjoys seeing her friends get along like that. Bringing up the whole 'pillow' incident probably put too much awkward air between them so she wanted to alleviate it a bit.

As Star continues to press on Marco, her foot slips, causing her to fall on him.

"Hey what are You? Hey! Woah! Woaaah!" Marco yells as he gets pushed back by Star. They fall to the ground.

Janna's smile fades.

Opening their eyes, their faces immediately turn red as they see they are now nose to nose with each other. Star's long blond hair forms a veil around Marco, blocking out everything but her. Eyes, that he was so used to seeing every day, now were only a few inches away from him. He cant help but look at them now. Were they always this blue? He wonders. So... beautiful, and... yearning, for what exactly? He tries to move, but feels the weight and warmth of Star's body on top of him. Her breath, slow and shaky, hits his lips.

"Uhh st-Star?" Marco weakly manages to say.

"Yeah?" Star responds, not moving an inch.

Marco tries to speak more, but a lump forms in his throat, He can feel his heart pounding and mind race.

Suddenly, a rather annoyed voice speaks up. "Star, I thought I told you not to go making out on me if you guys came over." Janna says, crossing her arms.

Star snaps out of it and quickly gets off of Marco. Marco slowly rises holding his chest.

"W-w-what? We were not!?" Star stammers as she hurries back to her spot, clinching her chest. "M-Marco, its your turn!"

"Y-Yeah sure!" Marco says, quickly flicking the spinner.

Janna unfolds her arms and stares at the spinner, letting out a quite sigh. That was probably too much alleviation for her liking. She doesn't know why, but she fells... "weird" when she sees them get too close like that. Don't get the wrong idea now! She is all for seeing them embarrassed and especially messing with Marco's love life, ... but Star... Star is her friend and probably who she hangs out with the most... she is maybe even her best friend now that she thinks about it. She knows that Star likes Marco, its pretty obvious, though Star probably wouldn't admit it. So she should help Star get with Marco right? But Marco is... Marco is Janna's... Marco is her friend too? _"Is Marco really what I would consider a 'friend?'... No, What is Marco then?"_ Janna wonders. At first he was just some poor sap that Janna had fun messing with... but after a while...

The spinner stops and falls on Janna's name. Janna looks up at Marco, "Oh, two times in a row? You must have it out for me Diaz." she grins.

 _ **"Marco is..."**_

Marco rolls his eyes. _"As much as she gets on my nerves, I'm glad it was Janna rather than Star. After whatever 'that' was."_ He says to himself. "Truth or dare?" He asks.

"Dare" Janna chooses.

 _ **"Marco is my..."**_

"Ok... I Dare you to go over to that statue a-"

 _ **"Marco is my Toy!"**_

"Oop! I can't move from this spot for the rest of the game remember?" Janna says smugly.

"Wait..."

"You have to think of something else Marco my boy."

 _ **"A plaything!"**_

Marco groans as he remembers his previous dare to Janna. "What else could I have you do then?" Marco says as he scratches his head starring at Janna, trying to think of something for her to do that is stationary.

Janna rolls her eyes and sighs. "Fine okay, ill give them to you." she says as she starts to take off her Jacket.

 _ **"Yeah that's it! He is a source of entertainment for me."**_

"What are you talking about?" Marco ask.

"I see you ogling me with your eyes Marco. You want my clothes, so you can go dress up your pillows!"

Star looks up at Janna, who looks back at her and they breaks out in laughter.

"Will you guys leave me alone about that already!?" Marco pleads. "I know it was weird, okay!"

"Why did you even use my clothes anyway?" Star ask, still chuckling.

"Because, you know... you're a girl, and you have girl clothes. My imagination can only go so far!"

"Wouldn't you think of Star while you are practicing kissing though?" Jana asks. "I mean, it is 'her' clothes." she adds.

"W-well I mean yeah, it is her clothes, and she did pop up in my head a few times..." Marco realizes what he just said and looks over at Star. "N-not In a weird way or anything! It's just you know… it smelt like you, and I couldn't help it that you popped in my mind..., but I didn't practice on you or anything!"

"Interesting…" Janna remarks as she grabs the rules. _**"So if he is my toy, ... then"**_

Suddenly, the spinner stars spinning rapidly on its own.

"What's going on?" Marco asks.

"Is it BonBon!?" Star asks, excited.

"No, it's the game." Janna says as she pulls out the rules. "I glanced over it, but apparently if you take too long to think of a truth or dare, then the game switches who is chosen." The spinner stops on Marcos name. _**"Then I guess..."**_

"Okay Marco, truth or dare?" Janna asks.

"Oh What!?" Marco groans "Tru-... actually, I don't think I want you knowing more about me than you already do, so Dare.

"I Dare you to..." Janna looks over at Star. _**"If he is my toy, then I guess I can let my best friend play with him too."**_ "I dare you to Kiss Star."

"K-kiss me?"

"Kiss!?" Marco shouts.

"Yup, I want to see what Marco has learned with Star on his mind." Janna smirks.

"I don't practice for Star! I practice for Jackie!"

"I'll be the judge of that!" Janna says, folding her arms. "And ill see if you guys were telling the truth about kissing at the dance or not too."

"Janna, I'm not kissing star." Marco says seriously.

"Oh? so you wanna kiss me then?" Janna ask.

"I DON'T WANT TO KISS ANYBODY!" Marco shouts, waving his hands in the air.

The board starts to glows purple, but no one notices.

"Well too bad, because that was my dare and if you don't do it then you have to suffer the penalty."

"What is the penalty then? Because I'm not kissing anyone!"

"Fine," Janna looks around to think of something "You have toooo... run naked through the graveyard."

"What? That's crazy!"

"Yeah, that's a little much Janna..." Star adds.

"Oh come on." Janna scoffs. "That's baby stuff. Believe me, I can think of a lot worse."

"This is dumb, I'm not doing any of these things!" Marco protest.

"That's not fair! You agreed to play, so you gotta follow the rules!" Janna says standing up.

"It's not fair that your making me and Star do something weird like that! Marco says standing up also.

"Ugh! Why do you always have to ruin the fun!"

"Because your definition of 'fun' is twisted!"

"No, you are just such a stick-in-the-mud about everything!" Janna says, poking at his chest.

While Marco and Janna are arguing Star cuts in. "I-its ok Marco…"

"Huh?" Both Marco and Janna say as they stop and turn to Star.

"I'm ok with it... let's just get it over with."

Marco sits back down. "What are you talking about star?"

The purple glow fades from the board.

"L-like I said it's fine." Star moves closer to Marco. "We can kiss... I don't mind."

"Y-yeah but, you don't want to do it with me right? I mean, don't you want your first kiss to be with someone special... well I don't know if it's your first, but still...'

"It's okay... if it's you."

Marco looks at Star confused and flustered by her words.

Star looks up at Marco and then quickly looks away blushing. "I-I mean your like my best friend so..." She looks up at Marco, moving some stray hair behind her ear. " I don't mind if it's you…"

Marco laughs nervously. "C-come on Star this is crazy…"

"It will be fine... you can think of it as practice... like with the pillow... but with a real girl... "

 _What am I saying!?"_ Star screams in her head. _"But... I really am curious about kissing Marco... do I really like him like that? I've been thinking about it ever since the dance... Will this change anything?"_

Star closes her eyes and moves her head closer.

Marco looks at Star and gulps. _"Is she really okay with this? Well… its better than running naked in a graveyard… and I know Janna will do anything to get her way… but still."_ Marco looks over at Janna, who is recording on her phone and motioning for them to continue.

"I knew this game was a bad idea…" Marco says under his breath. Looking back at Star, Marco closes his eyes, and nervously gets closer.

Janna stares blankly at her phone. "What are you doing Janna?" She asks herself. She honestly thought it wasn't going to happen. She just made that dare because she didn't want it to feel like she was being selfish and trying to keep Marco to herself, but Star... she is actually going to go through with it! Janna frowns. A part of her wants to tell them to stop, and that she was just joking, but another part is telling her she should support her friend. If Star really does love Marco, then who is she to get in the way? "It's just... I want things to stay like this." She says to herself. "I want us to all just be friends and hang out. No relationships to make things weird and complicated. I want to mess with Marco and not fell like i'm fooling around with my best friend's boyfriend..."

Squeaking can be heard and Marco opens his eyes.

"Huh what's that?"

Star opens one eye. "Marco, for the hundredth time, I said it was oka- Wait, huh!?"

Janna snaps back into reality, wondering what all the commotion about. Looking around, they see that they are surrounded by rats. They all stand up startled. "Shoo Shoo!" they yell, waving the rats off. "Giant rats." Star adds as the rats scurry to the back of Bonbon's grave.

Suddenly, all the candles go out.

"It's happening!" Janna grins.

The candles come back on as a clown rises from the back of the tombstone.

"You came back!" Janna exclaims.

Marco starts to freak out. "Wait what!? That's impossible!"

The clown gets closer to the light and gives a eerie grin. Janna winces, "Ooo, that explosion did a real number on your face."

"HAHAHAHAHA SURPRISE!" The clown cackles, taking off the clown nose reveling that it's Ludo, along with the spider and eagle.

"LUDO?!" Star and Marco exclaim.

"Miss me Princess?" Ludo says as he zaps them with his wand. All three quickly jump out of the way.

The board starts to glow purple again.

"Get them!" Ludo commands as his minions charge towards Star and her friends. Star immediately cast a barrage of spells to suppress them. Rats, tombstones, chunks of earth, colorful explosions, and nonsense creations of Star can be seen flying all over the graveyard. So focused on the hoard before her, Star does not notice the huge eagle swooping in behind her. The eagle cries out as it charges in, talons ready to sink into her.

"WAATAA!" Marco shouts as his flying karate kick strikes the eagle, knocking it to the ground.

"Thanks Marco, that was close!" Star says.

"No problem." Marco smiles. "All in a days wooorrrk!" Suddenly, Marco gets snagged away by a spiders web.

"Marco!" Star shouts reaching out for her friend. Before she can charge her wand to help, a green blast strikes her in the back.

"Your fight is with me!" Ludo shouts as he jumps up in the air, bombarding Star with an array of blast, powerful, but inaccurate. Each blast makes him go higher and higher in the air.

Star forms a pink shield around her for protection. "What do you want Ludo!?" Star asks.

"Where is the book!?" Ludo shouts.

"What book?"

"The spell book!"

"My spell book? ... What do you want with my spell book!?"

Ludo's face turns sinister.

"Everything!"

Now high above her, Ludo charges his wand and lets out a devastating ray that causes the earth to crumble and green fire to erupt from under Star. Loosing her balance, and shield, Star scrambles to escape the fiery pit that is forming under her.

"Star over here!" Janna shouts, with a outstretched arm above the crumbling earth.

Star leaps towards her, grabbing hold of Janna. She strains, but manages to pull Star back up to the stable ground.

"Whew, no more burritos for you girl!" Janna says as she tries to catch her breath.

"Huh? What are you trying to say?" Star asks seriously, putting her hands on her hips.

They both look at each other and break out in laughter.

The Eagle swooshes past them carrying Marco, who is wrapped in Spider's web. "Uh, a little help?!" Marco shouts.

"Syrup tsunami shock wave!" Star shouts. Syrup then shoots from Star's wand, hitting the bird, causing it to splat onto the ground.

"Gee, Thanks..." Marco says, now covered in syrup.

"Hehe, sorry..." Star grins.

A green death ray cuts by, just missing Star. "We are not done over here!" Ludo shouts, standing on top of his spider, swinging towards Star.

"Ugh, you are so annoying!" Star groans, shooting back.

"You get that little green guy, and ill go get Marco." Janna says as she takes off towards Marco.

"Alright, just be careful!" Star shouts back at Janna.

As Star fights with Ludo, Janna makes her way down to Marco, who is struggling to get out of the syrup puddle.

"Your in quite the sticky situation, huh?" Janna smirks.

Marco extends out his hand. "Just get me out of here!"

Janna grabs Marco's arm with both hands and pulls. They both struggle as they fight the resistance of the syrup.

"What is this stuff made out of? Rubber cement?" Janna complains.

Marco strains to push himself forward."keep pulling, I'm almost free!"

"You better not get any of this stuff on m-" Janna looses her balance as Marco gets pulled free and comes hurling toward her. Janna opens her eyes to see she is now the one nose to nose with Marco on the ground.

Marco quickly backs his head away from her. "Oop, sorry!" Marco says, moving to lift himself, "Thanks for getting me out Janna..." As soon as Marco lifts himself the syrup stuck between them quickly snaps them back together.

"Well, this is awkward..." Marco says, nose to nose with Jana again. "I guess we are both in a sticky situation now, huh?" he chuckles. Janna says nothing and just stares at Marco. "Uhh, you okay Janna?" he ask.

Janna is petrified. A boy has never in her life been this close to her, and to top it off, it was Marco! The with the syrup keeping them close together Marco tries his best not to put all of his weight on Janna, but she can still feel his body against hers. She never noticed before, but despite how he looks, Marco's body is actually feels pretty tone and strong.

 _"All those hours practicing karate must really pay off..."_ Janna says in her head.

As his breath hits her lips, slow and calm, it finally registers to Janna the situation she is in, and her mind races. _"H-he can totally just move in and kiss me right now! and my chest is totally touching his! Ah! This is so embarrassing!"_ Janna face is now flushed red.

"G-g-g-g" She mutters.

"Janna?"

"G-Get off of me, Would you!?" Janna shouts as she pushes Marco away.

"Oww! Janna quit pushing! I would if I could you know!?"

As Janna and Marco strain to get free, Ludo and Star continue to duke it out.

"Narwhal blast!"

The blast hits the spider knocking him out from under Ludo. Ludo utters nonsense as he tries to cast a spell, shooting wayward blast in every direction.

A blast hits close to Janna and Marco sending them flying. They hit the ground and start to roll down to the pit that Ludo made.

"Ahhhhh!" they scream as they roll into the pit.

"Marco! Janna!" Star shouts as she sees her friends tumbling down. "Bubble gum weasel floatie!" A pink weasel flies towards her friends and wraps it's self around them, floating them up to safety.

"Rainbow scissors!" Two beams of rainbows swirl toward her friends, popping the floatie and cutting the syrup between them.

"Yaaah!" Ludo screams as he continues to bombard Star with blast.

"Star!" Marco and Janna shout, seeing there friend in trouble, but Marco and Janna have troubles of their own. A pack of rats surrounds them, along with the spider and the eagle, who has three rats that got her out of the syrup puddle stuck to her.

Marco gets in his fighting stance and looks to Janna. "Do you know how to fight?"

"No, but if you give me some chalk and a doll I could put a curse or something on them. I tried it this one time on this girl in middle school, I think it worked... she got like diarrhea or something later on."

Marco steps in front of Janna to guard her. "Yeah, I don't think we have time for that."

Star looks down at her friends as the enemies around them get closer. "Oh no!" Star lifts up her wand. "Mega ultra-" A blast explodes near Star interrupting her. "ugh get out of here already!" Star shouts as she turns up teh heat and unleashes a barrage of spell on Ludo.

"I hope you got a plan Marco!" Janna says holding onto his back.

"I'll try to clear a path and when you see an opening run!"

"What about you?"

"Ill be fine, just get to a safe place!"

"I'm not going to leave you here to get clobbered!"

"Well what can you do? Make them have to go to the bathroom?"

"Hey, Diarrhea can be a serious problem!"

While they are arguing, the Truth or Dare board is emitting a strong purple glow now from across the graveyard. Bolts of lighting shoot from it as the spinner spins out of control. A bolt shoots from the board flying straight toward Marco and Janna. It strikes Marco and Janna, shocking them. The monsters stop and gaze upon the duo as a purple hue glows around them. The purple bolt courses through their bodies and swirls all the way down their left arm, sealing itself in a strange purple Mark on the back of their left hand.

"What was that!?" Marco asks, holding his left hand.

Janna looks at her Mark. "Oh, I guess it wasn't being over dramatic."

"What do you mean?"

"The truth or dare game." Janna hold up her mark. "This is the whole penalty thing."

"What? I thought you said the penalty was running naked through the graveyard!?"

"Yeah, I just made that up."

"Janna!"

"What!? I didn't think this thing would actually curse us."

"Curse!? This is a curse?"

"Well right now its supposed to be little stuff, but yeah eventually it turns into a serious curse if you don't complete your dare."

"Janna!? Where did you even get this game from!?"

"Pony Head."

"Pony head!? Why would you take a game from Pony Head!? Don't you remember that death box from the sleepover!?"

"I don't know! She was just throwing stuff away and I asked her if I could take it and she said yeah."

"Why did you even bring it with you!?"

"In case Bon Bon came back so we could play some games."

"You wanted to play truth or dare with a dead clown!?"

"I brought checkers and twister too..."

"Janna this is serious! we- AHH" The mark on Marcos hand starts glowing and a purple blast comes from Marco. Janna shields her eyes. When she opens them again she sees Marco struggling to keep his balance when she looks down she sees Marco's feet have been replaced with Banana peels.

"Woah! woooooah!" Marco shouts as he slips and slides across the ground.

"Pfft-" Janna covers her mouth to hold in laughter as she watches Marco.

"Janna this is not funny! Wooooah! We are in a serious situation here!"

"I Know but, Pffft-" As Janna chuckles the mark on her hand glows and a blast comes from her. Janna opens her eyes to see she now has two big wet noodles for arms. "Wooooah, sick!" Janna grins as she stares at her arms.

"Great, now how are we going to get out of this? I cant fight like this!"

"Oh yes we can!" Janna says jumping on Marco wrapping her legs around him and spreading her arms. Marco spins out of control while Janna proceeds to smack everything in range with her wet noodle arms.

With Ludo now beat to the ground, Star rushes over to her friends. She stops as she sees the strange scene of Marco and Janna spinning and slapping everyone with wet noodles. "What is going on down there?" Star asked with a very puzzled look upon her face. Star slides down and jumps in the middle with her friends.

"Star, your Okay!" They shout, happy to see their friend well.

"Uhh yeah.. are you guys Okay? What's this.. thing... you got going on over here? Star says pointing up and down with her wand.

"Yeah kind of a long story..." Marco says.

"It's working though!" Janna shouts as she continues to slap all of the monsters.

Suddenly, A purple blast goes off again, Marco's feet return to normal and causes Marco's spin to come to a halt, making him fall face flat on the ground. Janna falls face flat with him also, and after another purple blast her stretched out arms return to normal.

"Now its not.." Janna says, muffled by the ground.

"Okay so that happened..." Star says, staring at her friends on the ground.

The remaining monsters get closer. Star looks up noticing, and launches her Wanicorn stampede, clearing out all the renaming enemies from around them.

Dusting off her hands, Star grins and helps up her friends. "Well, that was a tough fight, huh?

"Sure was." Marco says, rubbing his shoulder.

"Aww man.. my noodle arms..." Janna says, disappointed, looking down at her hands.

"Yeah... what was all that about?" Star asks.

Before they can answer, Ludo cries out from the top of the graveyard, beat up and bruised. "This is your last chance Star Butterfly! Give me your book!"

"I don't know what you want with my book Ludo, but you will never get it!" Star shouts back.

"Oh? I think you will beg to differ when you see what I have to trade for it." Ludo grins.

"What are you talking about? You have nothing I want!"

"Oh really?" Ludo snap his fingers and the rats bring out a tied up Jackie.

"Jackie!?" Marco shouts, shocked.

"Jackie!? Star shouts. "Let her go!" .

"Sure, after you give me the book!" Ludo demands.

"But I don't have it!"

"Well, if you ever want to see her alive again, I suggest you bring it to Britta's Tacos tonight before 12pm!"

Ludo cackles as he turns and opens up a portal. The eagle grabs the spider and quickly flies over to Ludo, while the rats around Star and her friend's get up and scurry away.

Marco makes a mad dash towards Ludo, reaching out his hand to the squirming Jackie. "No, no, no, no, no ,no, no!" He shouts as he races to get there on time, but its too late, the portal closes before he can reach them. Marco falls to the ground hitting it with his fist. "He got Jackie!" He shouts to the ground.

Star and Janna catch up to see Marco on the ground, defeated. Star slowly approaches and puts her arms around Marco.

"Don't worry Marco... we'll get her back..." Star says,but she is unsure how. Will she really have to give Ludo her book? She wonders.

Janna looks at her friends and down at her hand where the mark is. She lets out an exhausted sigh. "So much for a dead clown seance."

* * *

 **Soooo how was it? Be honest! This was really frustrating because Janna is in the story now, and even though she is my favorite character, I honestly don't know that much about her. I have only seen season 1 and 2 of the show, so idk what she is like in season 3. I'm sure she still has no visible feelings for Marco though, and I basically am just making up a personality for her. so yeah, Janna is going to be OOC. Problem number two was the Spinner! I left it in because I had a bunch of jokes for it, but it was never supposed to be this powerful and have this much of an impact on the story... honestly it might come back to bite me lol. The third problem I had was the fight scenes. You want it to be interesting, but you don't want to explain everything either. I'm sure when I reread this in a week or so i'm going to change a lot of the wording probably. Anyway! Let me know what you think and I really appreciate all the love and support! Don't be afraid to tell me what sucks though! We all need that constructive criticism. Well, till next time! Oh! and from now on to avoid another one month upload, I am going to set a two week deadline. This story will now be update Bi-weekly! (I also randomly update the old chapters, so if you go back some things might be different.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Man! Those two weeks sure came by fast! Especially since I wrote probably 1/3, maybe even 1/2 of this story just now so I could meet the deadline, which I did not... Sorry for being a scrub yet again and not letting this part reach its full potential. I might add a few more things, and take a few out to polish it up. I was scrambling to get it out right now, but I do like the way it came out.(OR that's the lack of sleep talking XD) I will post a Date stamp to let you know if it has been altered Majorly. Thanks again for the love and support and please criticize! or just write something! it really hypes me up lol.**

 **Updated 4/4/19**

Rafael and Angie are cuddling on the couch cooing at each other. As Angie runs her fingers through Rafael's thick, bushy chest hair, he lets out a low growl. They giggle. Suddenly, The front door slams open as Star and the gang burst through. The parents jump up at this sudden intrusion.

"O-oh you kids are back already?" Rafael Stammers.

"Oh kids! You could have called first." Angie says, a little flustered, but smiling, fixing herself.

"No time, gotta' save Jackie!" Star yells as the trio runs up the stairs.

Janna stops mid way. "Nice chest hair by the way Ralph."

Raphael looks to his wife, then back at Janna."Uh, thank you?"

Janna points a finger gun at him and clicks her tongue. Raphael and Angie look to each other in concern.

Star burst into her room, followed by her friends. "Glossaryck!" She shouts.

Her cry is met with a hello from a teddy bear with an eye patch. "Ello Star! Your just in time! Me and BeanBag here just nabbed these two rascals that was snooping around ya room!"

"Huh? Teddy? What are you talk-" Star looks down and sees BeanBag waving at her, with the backside of two rats squirming around, trying to free themselves from it's mouth. "Oh... uh... just swallow it..." Star says as she makes her way to the secrets closet.

Teddy looks to BeanBag with a grin. "Well, you heard her ol'chum! Down the hatch!" Teddy jumps up and kicks the rats down BeanBag's mouth.

BeanBag falls backwards, swallowing the rats. He shivers as he feels them squirm around. "Gross..."

Star quickly blast the slime whale out of the way, causing it to turn it into smaller slime whales. Swinging the closet door open she shouts, "Glossaryck!" Looking down, she finds Glossaryck on the ground, licking the pudding cup clean. He turns around to Star and hisses guarding the cup. "Eww…" She says wincing. "Glossaryck, stop playing with that cup. We need your help!"

"Oh, so now you need me?" Glossaryck says, floating towards Star, fixing his robe.

"Now is not the time! Ludo is back, and he kidnapped Jackie!"

"Who?"

"Jackie! You know, Marco's love interest?"

"Oh! The one he practices kissing with the pillow!" Glossaryck chuckles.

Marco groans, rolling his eyes.

"Don't forget the cheesy pick up lines in the mirror." Janna adds.

"Oh, the cheesiest!" Glossaryck says as he begins to imitate Marco. "Girl are you Mackie Hand?"

"Cus' you just crouching tiger fist punched my heart." Janna finishes.

Glossaryck and Janna breakout in laughter.

Marco, not in the mood for jokes, interrupts. "Are you gonna' help us or not!?"

Glossoryck's laughter fades, and his face turns uninterested. "Geez Marco, always such a buzz kill... Okay, what do you need from me?"

"Ludo wants to trade the book for Jackie." Star says.

"okaaay?"

"So... I don't know? Is there a spell to make like a fake copy of the book or something?"

"Ah yes, the ol' copycat spell."

Glossaryck opens the spell book and flips to the spell. "You do realize this makes an exact replica of the book, and Ludo would have the same information you do."

"What!? Isn't there some way to just make it look like the book?"

"what if he opens it up?" Janna asks.

"Oh good point… well, what about one where it like destroys itself later, or something?"

"Ah! The exploding copycat spell! Good choice." Glossaryck flips to it and shows Star. "Here." Other pages begin to fold out of the book. "This might take a while to learn by the way..." Glossaryck adds.

Marco looks at the time. "We don't have that much time, it's already 11:05!"

"Don't worry Marco, I will learn it in no time!" Star says. Placing a shoe in front of her, Star reads from the book while waving her wand. "Okay, lets see here... copy cat, no sloppy cats, but an exploding cat, to deceive a rat!" A beam hits the shoe, sending it flying. The shoe then begins to dissolve into goop and splats on to the wall, changing it's color to match the surface. Star looks back with a nervous grin. "Just give me a few minutes..." A small explosion in the distance lights up her unsure face.

Marco groans and goes to sit on Star's bed. "I can't believe that jerk took Jackie!" He says.

Janna belly flops down next to him, facing the opposite direction. She grabs a Mewnie magazine off of Stars bed and starts flipping through it. "Don't sweat it, Star will take care of it."

"Yeah, I know... it's just, I can only imagine how scared Jackie is right now..."

On the roof of Britta's Tacos, Ludo is trying to eat a burrito, but Spider and Eagle keep trying to get it.

"Stop you buffoons! This is mine! I need to keep up my strength if I want to cast spells!" Ludo shouts.

The bird squawks at him.

"Haven't eaten in a week? Lies! I let you lick the bag of chips after I finished eating them yesterday!"

The Eagle and Spider jump on Ludo.

Jackie, tied to a pipe, looks as them with a raised eyebrow. "Uhh, so what exactly are you trying to do here again?" She asks.

Ludo tries to defend his food while answering her. "To get that little brats book! Ow! Stop that!"

"And why do you want Star's book?"

"To- AH!, Gah! To- oof! TO GAIN- Ugh! GAAAAH!" In rage, Ludo let's out a green explosion, blasting the hungry creatures away.

"To gain more power!" Ludo shouts, heaving, with green flames around him. The Burrito, blown up in the air by the explosion, lands on his face.

"Riiight…" Jackie says.

"She must be so terrified." Marco worries.

Janna shrugs."Eh."

"Copy cat, no sloppy cat, with a little dash of explody Cat!" A small cat shoots out from Star's wand and curls up next to a can of soda. Taking the form of the can, it starts to scream and foam out of the mouth, ending with a messy soda explosion.

"No, no, no, you have to bend your elbow 90 degrees." Glossaryck says.

Star wipes soda off of her face. "I did!"

"We will see what the royal protractor has to say about that!" Glossaryck says as he floats over with a blue Mewni protractor.

Marco falls back on the bed and sighs.

"There-there Marco, it will be alright." Janna says. Still reading her magazine, she moves her hand over to pat him on the head, but ends up patting his face instead.

"Thanks… Janna…" Marco says, moving her hand from his face.

"No prob."

"SPLODY CAT!" Star yells. A light from a Explosion highlights their silhouettes as they lay on the bed.

"Its just, I'm so mad at myself." Marco sighs.

"Why?" Janna asks.

"Ludo took the girl of my dreams, right in front of me! and I could do nothing about it…"

"Well..." Janna puts the magazine down and looks over at Marco. "That Ludo guy has powers, and you don't."

"Yeah, but he just got those powers, and he can't even use them right! I've kicked his butt like a hundred times already before!"

"Even so, that doesn't change the fact that he is stronger than you now Marco…"

Marco gets up to look at Janna. Is he hearing her correctly? "Stronger? That little pipsqueak!? HA!"

Janna gets up as well. "Yes, stronger! He practically destroyed that whole graveyard and we barely survived that horde of rats!" Janna lifts up her marked hand. "If it wasn't for this curse thing then we would have been goners! I mean, look at us!" Janna pulls on her clothes, showing the holes, burns, cuts and tears. She then points to Star who has the same, and pokes Marco in the stomach through a huge opening he has. "You almost got your guts blown out!

"Huh? When did that happen?" Marco says, looking down. "Well... it was just a fluke! Come on Janna, he would never be able to seriously hurt me!"

"YEAH, BUT WHAT IF HE DOES MARCO?!" Janna yells, frustrated at the boy's arrogance.

Star and Glossaryck stop what they are doing and look back to Janna and Marco. Marco sits there, shocked at her sudden outburst. A silence fills the room. Janna, realizing what she just did, gets flustered.

"I-I mean… I… I mean you... Just… UGH!" Janna plops back down on the bed facing away from Marco with her magazine. "I'm Just saying don't act stupid and get yourself killed! Things aren't the same anymore…"

Marco, annoyed, gets up from the bed. "I know that already!" He yells. Turning away. Marco walks over to look out the window and cool off. _"What does she think I am? An idiot? I know things are different... but i'm still strong enough to beat him!"_. As Marco angrily looks out of the window, he catches his reflection. He finally gets a proper look at himself. His anger fades and his face is in awe. The nice Prussian blue suit he rented was in tatters, and the hair he was so worried about before the dance was a total mess now. His face, once washed and clean, now covered in dirt and scrapes. He looks down at the big burned hole on his side. _"Did Ludo really do all of this?..."_ He asks himself as he places a hand over the hole.

Star looks over at Marco and Janna worried. She checks the time, 11:35. Her face turns serious and she keeps reading.

Janna angrily reads her magazine. "Stupid Marco..." Janna shifts her eyes over to him and watches as he places one hand on the window, the other holding his side. Janna's face turn somber. "I bet he is thinking of Jackie… I mean, it's not like I'm not worried about her too, but Star is going take care of it, she always does! Star has powers, so she can take care of herself, but Marco… he is just a regular guy. I wish he would realize that... Me and him have no business fighting people like that little green guy."

Marco sighs, looking down at the ground. When he looks back up, he gets wide eyed and jumps back. A rock crashes through Star's window, rolling to the middle of her room. Marco quickly looks out the window again to see a Rat scurrying down the street. The girls get up and go over to the window. "What was that!?" Star asks.

"One of those rats just through that in here!" Marco says.

Looking over at the rock, Janna goes and picks it up. "Hey, there is something wrapped around it." she discovers.

"What is it?" Star asks.

Unwrapping it, Janna dangles it in front of the others. "It's a sea shell necklace..."

Marco quickly snatches it out of Janna's hand, examining it closely.

"Marco?" Star asks, walking up to him.

Marco hangs his head low. "This is Jackie's..." He says.

Star gets closer and extends out her hand, but stops when she hears him breathing strangely.

Clinching his fist, Marco starts to shake. "He is messing with me!" He shouts, visibly getting angrier and angrier.

Star places her hand on his shoulder. "Mar-"

"That's it! I don't care, I am going now!" Marco shouts as he heads for the door.

Star quickly grabs Marco's arm. "But I haven't figured the spell out yet, and I can't give him the real thing!"

"Then let's just rush in there, beat him up, and get Jackie back!"

Janna steps in. "I told you already Marco, it's not the same anymore! You could really get hurt this time!"

"Yeah Marco, Janna is right. We can't risk this, for your sake, and Jackie's."

"I don't care! We need to go and we need to go now! We beat up that little freak a hundred times already, and we can do it again! It doesn't matter if he has a wand now!"

"Just give me a few more minutes Marco." Star pleads as she gets dragged trying to hold onto Marco. "L-Look, i'm close!" Star turns and shoots the spell at a sock. It works for a few seconds, but starts to foam and dissolve.

"I'm Sorry Star," Marco says as he yanks himself from her grip, "but I am going now." Marco grabs the door knob to leave Star's room.

"Marco wait!" Star shouts.

As Marco is leaving Janna grabs his arm. "Marco don't be stupid! I know you want to get Jackie back, but you can't do this by yourself. You need to think about it! There is one of you and three others guys, plus an army of rats! it's insane to go by yourself!

"Yeah, but I can't just stand around here and do nothing!" Marco shouts as he yanks his arm free and continues to leave, opening Star's bedroom door. Janna, fed up with his stubbornness, tackles Marco to the floor. "Janna what are you doing!" Marco shouts. Turning over, Marco fights to push Janna off of him.

"Stop being such an idiot!" Janna yells as she wraps her arms tight around his waist to prevent him from getting up. They fumble around and end up rolling down the stairs. They bounce down and split apart as they crash into the wall at the end of the staircase.

"Marco! Janna!" Star shouts from the top of the staircase. As Star hurries down, Marcos parents quickly run to their aid.

"Are you guys ok?!" Angie shouts as she and Rafael pick them up.

After Marco regains himself, he hurries to get through the front door.

Janna, snapping out of her daze, sees Marco going for the door. "Marco stop!" She shouts, jumping on him again.

"Let me go Janna!" Marco shouts as he tries to shake her off of him.

"No! I am not going to let you get your self killed!"

"Killed? What is going on here!?" Raphael asks.

"I will be fine!"

"No you won't! Marco, when will you get it through your thick skull!? You are not strong enough!"

 **You are not strong enough...**

Those words resonate in Marcos ears. The fight at the graveyard, The wounds he and his friends received, his reflection in the window,... Jackie, these images flood his mind. _"Am I really not strong enough anymore?"_ He wonders. _"No... it can't be..."_ Marco looks down at the hole. _"but..."_ Marco then looks down at Jackie's necklace in his hand. Clinching the shell, Marco can feel his blood start to boil. He was not going to accept it. How can he sit by and let the girl he loves be taken by an evil creep like Ludo? She is in danger, and he needs to save her! Marco begins to pry Janna off of him. "Let me go Janna! I don't care if there is a hundred of them, or even a million! I'm going to go get Jackie!"

"You idiot!" Janna looks back to Star as she struggles to hold on to Marco. "Star! you got to stop him! He wont listen to me!"

"Marco, I know you want to save Jackie, but please! Just let me get the spell down, its the safest way!" Star shouts.

"No, I cant wait anymore Star. It's either now or never! There is no telling what that creep will do to her!

Star holds her wand up to Marco. "Marco, I'm not going to let you go by yourself and we are not going to fight Ludo with Jackie as his hostage! Just let me get the spell down and we can save her the safe way... and if not, then... I'll give him the book..."

"Do you really think he will just settle for the book and give Jackie back? NO! He is going to keep using her to get what he wants! We just need to go now and get Jackie back!" Marco shouts.

"Marco you are not thinking clearly! If we go in wand's blazing Jackie could get hurt!" Star responds.

"Okay what is going on here kids!? and Why is Marco going to get killed and Jackie going to get hurt!?" Angie shouts.

"Just let me go!" Marco yells as he tries even harder now to shake Janna off of him.

"Janna hold him down!" Star shouts, charging up her wand. "I can't really explain right now Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, but we have everything is under control!"

Janna does her best to keep Marco still. "Hurry Star, I can't really hold him down!"

"I thought you were my friends!? Are you really going to let that creep keep Jackie!?"

"Marco you need to chill out, Okay!? You are just really worried about Jackie and I know you want to save her, but we have to be careful!" Star says, trying to get a clear shot of Marco to subdue him.

"LET-ME-GO!" Marco shouts as grabs Janna's arms and flips her over.

Before Janna can even process why she is upside down in the air, her body comes slamming down onto the Diaz family living room. She gasps as her lungs try to reclaim the air that was just knocked out of them.

"MARCO!" The onlookers shout, shocked at his actions.

Marco sprints out the door towards the Taco shack not looking back.

"Marco!" Janna wheezes. "Wait!" Janna reaches out, only to see him shrink in the distance and her vision fade to black.

 **What do you think? Too much? OOC? Let me know! Probably will add dialogue for the parents since they are kind of just standing there watching all of this happen lol. Till next time! BTW you can view my Profile for next chapter date.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Updated 5/13/19 * Thank you! Didn't notice the loose lol ***

"Marco!" Janna shouts, reaching out to him as he walks through the door.

Marco stops and turns towards her. "I have to get Jackie!"

"I know you do, but you can't go al-"

"Why, so you can keep having your toy?"

"... What?"

"You said it yourself, I'm just a plaything for you to use."

"What are you talking about Marco?"

"You don't really care about me, about how I feel!"

"Yes I do!"

"You just want to keep me all to yourself! Admit it!"

"... No I-"

" You are scared that I will be taken away. You are scared that Jackie and Star are going to keep me away from you!"

"N-No! I just want to keep you safe!"

"Why? So you can keep having a 'toy'?"

"No, stop saying that! I didn't really mean it... I just want you alive."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why?', why wouldn't I want you alive?"

"Do you..."

"Do I what?"

"Do you L-v- me?"

She cannot quite hear him correctly. "What?"

"Janna, do you..."

 **Janna...**

 **Janna...**

 **I think she is coming to...**

 **Janna...**

 **Janna!**

Janna opens her eyes. Three blurry figures loom over her.

"Janna are you Okay!? Can you hear me!?" Star asks.

Janna gets up slowly, rubbing her head. "Yeah... What's going on? What happened?

"Marco flipped you like a pancake and then bolted out the door!"

"He left!? We have to stop him then!" Janna rushes to get up, but stops as pain surges through her body and head. "Gah!"

"Janna!" Star bends down to help her. "You okay?"

Janna slowly rises and gathers herself. "Yeah... I guess Marco really did slam me like he meant it..." Looking down at the living room floor, Janna places a hand on the cold, hard tile under her. A small frown forms on her lips.

Angie bends down and places a hand on Janna. "Oh Janna, sweetie, I'm so sorry... I can't believe Marco would do something like this..."

"We are going to have a good talking to him about this!" Rafael says. "I did not raise my son to put his hands on a woman!"

"Don't worry Janna!" Star says. "I'll get Marco and Jackie back safe and sound. So just wai-"

A frustrated growl erupts from Janna as she jumps to her feet. "Grrr, that jerk! Here I am trying to keep him from getting hurt and he slams me on the ground!" Janna opens up the door. "Let's go Star! I'm gonna give him a price of my mind!"

"O-oh, uhhh r-right!" Star turns towards Marco's parents. "Don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Diaz we will get Marco!" she says, rushing out the door behind Janna.

"W-Wait Girls!" Rafael calls out. But It's too late, hurrying out the door he sees the two girls are already running full speed down the street.

Marco stands in the middle of the Britta's Tacos parking lot, trying to catch his breath as he darts his eyes around looking for Jackie. "Ludo where are you!?" he shouts.

Ludo rises from the roof. "Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show up! I hope you brought the boo- " Ludo stops and squints. "Marco? It's just You? Where is Star Butterfly, and the book!?"

Hearing his words, Jackie shoots her head up. "It's just Marco?"

"They couldn't make it. Now give me back Jackie!" Marco demands.

"No book, no girl!" Ludo charges up his wand. "Now get me the book, or else!" He threatens, pointing the wand at Jackie.

Before Ludo can say another word, Marco sprints towards him in a fit of rage. "Don't you even think of hurting her!" Jumping and fliping from tables and parasols around the restaurant, Marco makes his way to the roof.

Ludo stands in awe as he watches Marco In the air. "Whoa Marco, that was kind of cool..."

Marco kicks Ludo in the face as he lands, sending him flying back.

The Eagle swoops in to strike Marco, but he dodges and round house kicks the bird, who lands on top of Ludo. The Spider then jumps at Marco from the rear.

"Marco watch out!" Jackie shouts.

Marco eyes behind him and quickly ducks as the spider jumps over him. He strikes the spider from behind and sends it flying on top of the eagle. Marco turns to get Jackie, but stops as a loud scratching sound roars around him. Rats are running up the building and surrounding Marco.

Taking in his surroundings, Marco sees he is out numbered. Marco takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Janna's voice begins to ring in his head..

 **"There is only one of you and a hundred of them!"**

 **"You are not strong enough"**

 **"Don't be Stupid!"**

 **"Don't get yourself killed!"**

"I told you Janna... I don't care if there is a hundred or even a thousand..."

"Marco run!" Jackie shouts.

Opening his eyes and entering his fighting stance, Marco resolves himself. "I have to save Jackie!"

A rat directly behind Marco attacks first, followed by the rest. Marco anticipates and strikes accordingly, sending them flying with a single blow as they jump at him. Blow after blow he sends them flying. Jackie chuckles in astonishment. "Whoa Marco, I didn't know you could fight! Go dude!" she cheers.

Marco cracks a smile. Boosted by her cheers, Marco gets cocky and starts to get flashy with his moves.

"Wata! Heeya! Watcha!" He says after every blow imitating Mackie Hand.

"Hahaha, slow down there bad boy." Jackie chuckles.

Seeing their attempts are failing, the rats group together and all jump on Marco at once. Marco taken aback by there sudden force, fights with all of his might, but falls as the rats swarm and overpower him. The rats beat, bite down, and tear into Marco. He falls face down on the floor. Looking up, he sees Jackie looking at him with a horrible expression on her face. She kicks at the air and thrashes her body around, trying to break free from her bondage. He reaches his hand out to her, but stops when he notices something strange. His sleeve was no longer Prussian blue, but a dark red... Looking down he notices a puddle of the same color forming under him. His eyes go back to Jackie, her mouth is moving but he cant hear her. Now that he thinks about it, he cant hear a thing... Darkness soon takes over the corners of his vision as everything begins to fade away...

The stomp of feet and labored breathing resonate in the street light lit night, as Star and Janna run towards Britta's Tacos.

 _"Stupid Marco... We are just trying to keep you safe. You better be okay..."_ Janna worries.

 _"This is all my fault! If only I was able to get that spell down we wouldn't be in this mess!"_ Star yells at herself in her head.

"Ah!" Janna stops and clutches her curse mark, which is emitting a strong purple light.

"Janna!" Star turns around and runs towards her.

"AAAAHHH!" Janna falls to the ground in pain as bright, glowing, purple marks form all over her body resembling wounds.

"Janna! What's going on!?" Star panics, not sure what to do.

Glossaryck and the book suddenly appear in front of Star. "Glossaryck! What's going!?"

Glossaryck sits on the book and slowly flys over Janna, examining her. " Hmmm, interesting."

"Marco is in trouble!" Janna shouts. "You need to go now Star!"

Star gets down and holds her hand. "What are you talking about Janna!?"

Glossaryck looks at the hand Star is holding. The curse mark burns brightly in his eyes. "Ah, so it's a contract curse."

"A contract curse?" Star asks.

"It seems Marco and Janna have signed a contract and until that contract is complete then the curse will stay on them getting worse and worse."

"So this is that dumb games fault!?"

"It's from a game you say? Well, whats going on right now isn't necessarily the curse doing it's 'cursing', but rather this is a condition of group contracts. If one of the members of the same contract is potentially loosing their life, then those under the same contract will give up some of their life to compensate and keep that individual alive. Allowing them the ability to complete the task that they were assigned. Judging from the amount of damage Janna is taking though, it looks like it just incudes her and Marco. Didn't you play this 'game' too?"

"Wait you mean Marco is dying right now!?"

"Potentially." Glossaryck shrugs.

Janna rises from the ground. The purple wounds have finished appearing and a strong purple energy surrounds her.

"J-Janna don't get up so fast you could be seriously hurt!"

"Don't worry about me, we have to get to Marco!" Janna says as she takes off in a full sprint to Britta's Tacos.

"Janna!" Star shouts, chasing after her.

Glossaryck trails behind on the book. "It's been a while since I've seen that curse..."

"MARCO!" Jackie screams as she watches the rats swarm Marco. "Stop! Leave him alone! Please!" She cries out.

Through her tears she sees a faint purple glow appear under the rats. All of a sudden, the rats go flying in all directions. Jackie looks on, amazed as she sees Marco standing tall. "Marco!" She rejoices. Upon further inspection, she notices he is still badly injured. He has wounds all over his body and his outfit is covered in blood! But what is strange are his wounds... they glow purple and don't seem to be bleeding. Also, there is a purple energy around him that seems to be what is powering him.

Marco hurries towards Jackie and unties her.

"M-Marco are you Okay? What's with all this purple stuff of You? Does it hurt?"

Marco wraps his arms around Jackie.

"... Marco?" Jackie says, a small blush on her face from his sudden embrace.

"I'm sorry Jackie..."

"A-About what?"

Marco only holds her tighter.

She is not too sure what is going on, but it feels so good to feel Marco's warmth and breathing. He is safe and sound now. After what she just saw... that's all she could ask for. Closing her eyes she returns his embrace.

"...I was so scared I was going to lose you." Marco says softly.

"You were scared 'you' were going to lose 'me'?" Jackie chuckles softly. She feels a lump form in her throat. "You almost gave me a heart attack, you know?." She manages to utter from her trembling voice. Tears roll down her cheeks as she buries herself in his shoulder.

"Sorry..."

"You better be... jerk." Jackie lifts one of her arms from her hug and softly hits him with a clinched first.

"Ah!" Marco winces.

Jackie lifts up her hands and quickly parts from him. "Oh sorry!"

They pause for a moment as they sit across, looking at each other.

"Pfft, hahahaha"

"Pfft, hahahaha... oww" Marco grabs his side, still smiling.

Jackie smiles back and wipes her eyes.

"Well..." Jackie helps Marco up and keeps hold of his hands. "You saved me..." she says softly, Looking up at Marco.

Marco looks back at those beautiful green eyes that he gets lost in every time. If it were any other day this would have sent him running, but the feelings he has right now... this is something he has never felt before, something he could have lost if things had turned out differently...

"Jackie..."

He can't afford to lose her, to let her get hurt, to be taken away. He must protect her, be there for her.

"Yeah?"

It's now or never.

"I have been wanting to tell you this for a while..."

"We made it!" Star pants as she and Janna try to catch their breath, finally arriving on the lot. "Where is Marco!?"

"Up there!" Janna shouts, pointing to the roof.

"MARC-" Star shouts, but she stops when she sees Marco and Jackie. "Oh... looks like he is fine..." Star quietly says, a faint smile on her lips. She should be happy that Marco is fine... but it feels... bittersweet.

Janna looks to Star. "Star..." she sighs. Looking back up to the roof, her face turns even more somber.. "Looks like you saved her after all, lover boy..." She mutters. Looking down at her wounds she took for Marco, Janna scoffs. "Your welcome... jerk." The images from her dream then come to mind and she quickly shakes her head out of it.

"Jackie, I..." Marco mumbles.

"You what?"

"I always wanted to tell you that..."

"Its not over yet!" Ludo shouts as he rises from the ruble, sending a blast towards Marco and Jackie.

"Marco!" Jackie shouts.

"Watch out!" Marco covers Jackie. A huge green blast strikes Marco in the back, knocking both him and Jackie off of the roof.

"MARCO!" Star and Janna shout.

Ludo watches as Janna sprints towards them, he then notices Star.

"So you finally came! Where is my book?!" Ludo shouts from the roof.

Star looks over at her friends. Marco lies limp on the floor, his purple energy has dispersed. Jackie and Janna try desperately to wake him up.

"Well!?" Ludo demands.

Star's wand begins to take on a green glow.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Ludo blast the ground in front of Star. Her hair blows back from the force and dirt sprinkles her face, but she is unfazed. Only Marco holds her attention.

"THAT was a warning! Now bring me the book, or you will end up like karate boy over there!"

Something in Star snaps.

 **"SHUT UP!"**

A huge green blast explodes on the building.

 **"SHUT UP!**

 **SHUT UP!**

 **SHUT UP!**

 **SHUT UP!"**

Star screams, blasting the building over and over again.

Janna and Jackie shield themselves from the dust blown by Star's explosions.

Silence fills the air as the dust settles. The building is now in pieces and at the very bottom is Ludo, pinned to the ground by the debris.

Star walks up to Ludo.

"P-P-Please have mercy. I-I'd have mercy on you." He begs.

"You hurt Marco..." Star aims her wand directly at Ludo, a strong green light illuminates from it. "You get no mercy."

Before she can deal the final blow, the eagle swoops in and tackles Star.

The beam fires astray from Star's wand, taking Ludo's right hand.

"GAAAAAAAH!" Ludo writhes in pain as he clutches onto his arm.

Star rolls on the ground from the tackle and quickly recovers, shooting at the bird.

The spider crawls up to Ludo and binds up his hand. It then puts him on its back and calls for the eagle to retreat. The eagle hearing the call, turns and flys towards them. Star continues to fire a barrage of green beams at them. A few rats jump on Star to stop her.

"Ugh! Ahh! Let me go!" A green blast erupts from Star knocking the rats off of her. "I've had enough of all of you!" Star shouts. "Mystic room suck transform!", a huge vortex opens up on the ground. Ludo's minions try to escape it, but one by one they all start to get sucked in. Star looks up to see the spider holding on strongly to a light post, keeping Ludo and the eagle tied down. Angered by this, Star puts more power into the vortex. The vortex takes on a green tone and starts to become overwhelmingly powerful, Ludo and his goons get sucked in, but so does everything else.

Star takes notice, seeing the surrounding buildings and vehicles are even starting to fall apart and get sucked in.

"O-Oh no! Stop, stop, stop!"

Realizing she can't control it anymore, Star turns to her friends. "Get Marco and get out of here!" she shouts. But before they can give her a response, a brick pulled from the force of the vortex flies into Star, hitting her in the back of the head and knocking her out.

"Star!" Jackie and Janna shout as they see Star hit the ground.

Jackie runs over to grab Star. She checks her, no serious injury can be seen. Putting Star on her back, she shouts to Janna. "We have to get out of here! Do you think you can carry Marco?"

"I'll try!" Janna gets up and pulls Marco onto her back. She struggles to move and stay steady.

"Can you carry him Janna?" Jackie calls out.

"Y-Yeah, he is just a bit heavy." Lifting him up more, Janna moves forward.

"Okay, let's go!" Carrying Star, Jackie makes her way away from the Vortex.

They move slowly and carefully, avoiding flying debris and making sure not to loose their footing.

Janna suddenly stops moving.

"What's wrong Janna?" Jackie shouts over the roaring winds.

Janna breaths heavily and starts to wobble. She falls to her knees and drops Marco.

"Janna!"

"Marco..." Janna weakly says as she reaches out to him. The purple energy fades from Janna as she passes out on top of Marco. With no strength left to fight the pull of the Vortex, Marco and Janna start to get pulled in.

"NO!" Jackie screams as she tries desperately to somehow get to them before they get sucked in. So focused on her friends, Jackie doesn't notice the car door coming right at her.

Glossaryck watches from a distance as the teens fall into the Vortex.

"Interesting..."

 **Finally finished this chapter! The original script was only like 980ish words! Boy have a derailed from my original story quite a bit. Not saying that is bad or anything, but when I read this story in its full form I'm kinda like, "This would never happen." But in the end it is a fanfic, which has the liberty to be extra and kind of out there I guess lol. So, what do you guys think? Are you still liking the story? I know its probably not what you pictured it would be. Please let me know what you like and don't like. It helps with future writings. Also, I kind of threw that whole two week deadline idea out the window XD. I just cant be trusted with dates right now. I will try though to at least post one chapter a month, hopefully two. Also, also, if you guys want, make your own fanfic continuing from here. (Not saying my story is enough for people to make fanfics about it. Far from it actually.) I just thought that it would be fun to see other peoples adventures that they can make up with the story so far. If you do, please PM me the link so I can read it! Till next time peeps!**

 **SN: This was the last scene I had scripted out completely, so everything from here on out might take longer to write... or it might be even faster since I don't have previous ideas I got to work around.**


	7. Chapter 7

Marco opens his eyes, squinting as the midday sun hits him. He groans, turning to the side and nuzzles deeper into his pillow. But something feels off... his pillow feels more firm than usual, it's rather warm, and he could have sworn it moved when he nuzzled deeper into it? Looking up, Marco's eyes adjust and he sees he is resting on the lap of a rather rough-looking, embarrassed Janna.

"huh? Janna?"

"M-Marco? You're awake!" Janna exclaims, relief on her face, and a bit of redness in her cheeks.

Marco slowly sits up, wincing as pain shoots through his body.

"Careful!" Janna says, lifting her hands up, prepared to catch him.

Marco rubs his throbbing head and looks around. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"I'm not too sure. The last thing I can remember is trying to get you away from that huge portal Star made and then everything is blank after that."

"A huge portal?"

"Yeah, the one she made fighting that little green guy."

"Little green guy?"

"Yeah, Dudo or whatever."

"Dudo?… You mean, Ludo?" Marco's eyes widen. "Ludo! Jackie! Where is Jackie!?"

Janna shakes her head. "I just woke up and found you passed out. I haven't seen Jackie or Star anywhere."

Marco looks around. An open grassy field sprawls out before him, lined by a dense forest with Debris from Britta's Tacos scattered everywhere.

"Where are we?" he asks.

Janna shrugs. "Definitely not in Echo Creek anymore though, that's for sure," she says, pointing off into the distance.

Following her finger, Marco looks out into the horizon. A massive smoking volcano stands tall, high above the surrounding area. Not much else can be seen due to the thick wilderness surrounding them. Higher ground would be needed to fully see their surroundings. Close by, Marco sees a hill that they could use to get a better look.

Marco attempts to stand up and Janna rises quickly to make sure he doesn't fall. She lets out a sigh of relief when she sees he is okay. The scene of Marco being blasted off the roof by Ludo has been playing in her mind ever since she woke up and found Marco lying unconscious amongst the rubble. She is glad to see he isn't injured as bad as she thought he was.

 ** _Guess I didn't take half of your damage for nothing._** Janna thinks to herself as she looks down at her wounds from the curse. **_Looks like you can still take a few more hits!_** At the drop of a hat, her face twists up in anger as she clinches her fist and swings at Marco.

 _Thwap!_

Marco falls to the ground holding his nose. "What the hell Janna!? What was that for?"

"For slamming me on the ground you jerk!"

"Slamming you? What are you talking abou-" Marco pauses as the memory of how he threw Janna on the ground in a rush to save Jackie comes to mind. "Oh, yeah..." He frowns, looking down at the ground. "I guess I did deserve that... sorry, Janna, I just..."

Janna offers him her hand.

"It's fine. I know you were just worried about Jackie, and besides," she shakes out her hand that she punched Marco with. It seems his face was harder than she thought. "I think now we are even," she grins.

Marco looks up at Janna and gives a small smile. "Thanks, Janna."

Taking her hand, he notices the purple marks all across her arm. He looks down at his own. "What is all this stuff by the way?"

Janna averts her eyes and tugs what's left of her jacket down her arm. "I'll tell you about it later… Right now we need to figure out where we are."

"Oh… alright," Marco says, not too sure what to think of her response.

Still feeling the injures from their previous battles, they stagger to the hill. Once they manage to get to the top, they look out into the distance in awe. Vast forests, mountains, lakes, swamps, jungles, and strange creatures can be seen over the horizon.

"Where are we?" They both say under their breaths.

Suddenly, A huge bird swoops up from under them.

"Woah, what is that thing?" Marco shouts, taking a step back, almost stumbling to the ground.

The massive fowl lets out a blood-curdling screech hovering over them. Marco and Janna cover their ears from its deafening scream. The bird seems to be at least 50 feet wide, with brown, unkempt feathers, and razor-sharp talons. Its beak cracked, followed by a scar that reaches across its left eye to the top of its head.

"Well, it doesn't look too friendly, that's for sure!" Janna says, grabbing Marco by the hand and pulling him down the hill.

They run, the best they can, down the hill towards nearby trees. The bird tails close behind, bringing in its talons as it prepares to make a grab. Janna and Marco lose their footing as they run down the hill and stumble, causing them to tumble down. The bird swoops in to strike but just misses them as the duo roll into the thick forest.

Not knowing what is up or down, Marco and Janna tumble until they crash into a thicket. Heads spinning, they pop out of the brush trying to regain focus and catch their breath. Looking up, they see the bird circling high above them.

"We should be safe if we stay in the trees," Marco says.

A loud caw resonates through the sky and the massive bird comes swooping down, tearing through the trees. Marco and Janna quickly dive out of the way, causing the bird to miss and uproot a tree with its talons.

"I don't think it cares about trees!" Janna shouts.

"Run!"

Adrenalin pumping, they get up and run, ignoring the pain from their injuries. They weave through the trees and keep an eye on the sky. The bird quickly flies ahead and drops the tree it uprooted right in front of them, bringing Marco and Janna to a halt. They look back as the bird circles around to dive again.

"Here he comes Marco, what do we do!?" Janna yells.

Marco looks around and sees a nearby waterfall. "This way!" he says, pulling Janna by the arm.

The bird dives down again, crashing through the trees, charging right at them. Marco and Janna run with all their might towards the waterfall and soon find themselves at the edge of a cliff. Looking down, a lake can be seen, filled by the waterfall. Marco looks back to Janna, who nods.

They jump.

 _Sploosh!_

The sound of water fills their ears as they plunge into the cold, green lake, just missing a few rocks. Rising to the surface they gasp for air and look to the sky. The bird circles above, looking for them.

"What now!?" Janna asks.

Marco looks to the nearby waterfall, maybe they could hide behind it.

"Go under and follow me!"

Janna nods and they both take a deep breath going under. The water is murky and green. Nothing can be seen too clearly in the distance. As they make their way to the waterfall, something can be seen moving close by in the water. Marco and Janna stop and look around. A big dark figure swims past right behind them. Turning to look, they see nothing but the murky green water.

 _Sh_ _oom!_

Something shoots past under them.

Hearts racing and oxygen running out, Marco motions Janna to keep moving. Up ahead, they notice a dark figure approaching them. The duo halt, looking to each other, not knowing what to expect.

Charging past the murkiness of the water, the gaping mouth of a giant alligator appears! Janna and Marco scream, letting what oxygen they did have escape. The Gator dashes towards them. Marco and Janna quickly dodge, their bodies being spun by the force of the gators charge

With air running low, and a new enemy in the water, they make an incline to the top. Looking back, they see the Gator turning and lining up for another go. Marco and Janna swim with all they have, fighting the weakness and pain of their bodies and the feeling of suffocation from the lack of oxygen.

The Gator dart's towards them. They dodge again, but the reptile's teeth catch on to Janna's jacket, causing Janna to be taken up with the gator as it propels into the air.

"Janna!" Marco shouts, rising to the surface, coughing and gasping for air.

"Marco!"

The massive alligator reaches the peak of its climb and begins to descend. Seeing Janna hanging from its teeth, the reptile opens its mouth, planning to consume her on impact.

"Janna!"

Suddenly, the Giant Bird swoops down from the sky and snatches the alligator in its talons. This causes Janna's jacket to tug and rip off, sending her plummeting back down into the water.

 _Splash!_

Marco quickly makes his way towards her. Janna swims to the surface coughing and gasping for air.

"Janna are you okay!?" Marco asks.

"Better than that guy," Janna says in between coughs, looking up at the Gator being taken away by the Bird.

"What's next in this crazy place, a giant gorilla?" She asks.

A loud roar then erupts in the distance, causing some birds to fly away.

"Yeah, let's not find out," Marco says, grabbing Janna and turning back to swim to land.

* * *

They crawl out of the lake, drenched and clothes falling apart. Looking around they see there is a small cave behind the waterfall. With their adrenaline gone, the pain and exhaustion from their previous battle with Ludo begins to set in, along with the strain from the chase moments ago. Marco lays down on the cool rocky floor of the cave. "Everything hurts!" He groans.

"Believe me I know," Janna says, sitting back against a rock, looking down at the purple wounds she shares with Marco. which were now more exposed due to her jacket missing.

Marco notices Janna looking at her arms and looks at his own. "So what's the deal with all these purple marks? Does it have to do with this curse stuff?" he asks.

Janna sighs. "Yeah."

"So will this go away after a while, like earlier at the graveyard?"

"Not exactly..."

"What do you mean?"

Janna hesitates but decides to tell him the truth. "These are... because you got hurt."

"Huh?"

"Well, Glossaryck told me that when we get hurt enough to where it's a problem like... we could die... then we have to take some of the damage for each other so that we can continue to live and complete whatever assignment the curse was placed under," Janna says, looking away from him, not too sure on how he would take the news.

Marco sits up. "Wait... you got hurt because of me?" he asks, worry in his voice.

"Well, I was the one who let us play that stupid game anyway," Janna says.

"So that means... that I basically died back there in the parking lot?"

Upon hearing that, Janna looks back at Marco. He sits, looking down at the floor, pale, and his eyes hidden by his hair.

"Well... good thing we have this curse thing right?" Janna weakly laughs.

"I'm such an idiot..."

"I can't argue with you there..."

"You told me I wasn't strong enough and I just couldn't accept that. I didn't listen to you and now you got hurt because of me!"

"Well, it looks worse than it is," Janna says, trying to comfort him in some way.

"And I didn't even save Jackie! I died!" Marco scoffs. "Pathetic..."

"That's not true! Jackie is alive and so are you!"

Marco gets up and starts to pace back and forth. "Yeah, but now we are here in who knows where, lost and wounded, with crazy monsters everywhere! And who's to say she and Star are even together? She could die out here and it's all because of me!"

"Well complaining about how wrong you were is not going to fix anything Marco!" Janna's outburst stops him in his tracts. "What you need to do now Is make it right. Sure we are in some wacko world, but we are still alive! And if us two, without any powers, can do that, then so can one normal girl and one extra dimensional princess!"

"But how do we even know they are together?"

"I was carrying you when I passed out and Jackie was carrying Star. I mean, I don't even know if Jackie and Star even got sucked in. Maybe it was just us two and that little green guy."

Maco perks up at the idea Jackie and Star may not even be here with them and if Ludo got sucked in too, then that's even better! The farther he is away from Jackie, the better. Marco just had to worry about avoiding him, keeping Janna safe, and getting home, which Star might be working on right now. On the other hand, if they are in this dimension also, then at least Star has her magic to protect Jackie. If anything, Marco needed to be more worried about staying alive with Janna in this world.

"Yeah... your right. Sorry Janna, and... thanks," Marco says, giving a small smile.

Janna sighs and smiles back.

"No prob-Ah pro-Ah Ah AH-Choo!" Janna is interrupted by a sneeze.

"Salud."

"Thanks." Janna snorts. "It's kind of chilly now don't you think?"

"Yeah, we need to ditch these wet clothes."

"Woah, easy there tiger! You need to at least buy me dinner first."

"Haha very funny. I'm serious, we need to get dry before it gets dark and we freeze to death."

"Oh? Are you some kind of survival expert now?"

"No, but I have watched a lot of Discover Station. So I know we can't be in these wet clothes when it gets dark."

"Alright Mr. Wild Man," Janna laughs, shaking her hands in the air. "So what do we do first, Survival Specialist Marco Diaz?"

"Yeah-yeah."

Marco waves off her snide remarks. "First, we have to take off our clothes obviously." Marco looks down at his torn attire. "Or what's left of them anyway."

"Yeah, that was my favorite jacket too," Janna frowns, pulling off a sleeve of teal cloth still hanging from her arm.

Marco pulls off his suit and starts to unbutton his shirt. He looks up at Janna who is staring at him. Marco blushes and covers up. "What are you looking at!?"

"Just enjoying the show," Janna smirks.

"You got to take off your clothes too you know!"

"Oh? So you want to watch me take off my clothes now?"

"N-no I'm just saying, it's not just me that has to..." Marco looks away blushing.

Janna let's out a chuckle and turns around, taking off her beanie. "I know, I know. Don't peek now~," She says playfully.

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about that!" Marco barks, turning away from her. **_Honestly, she gets on my nerves! And how can she be so relaxed about this? Isn't it at least a little bit embarrassing for her too?_**

"..."

Janna clutches her beanie and a small blush appears on her face as she looks back to make sure Marco isn't looking. She pulls off her olive shirt and lets out a sigh as she fixes her bra and looks down at her body.

 ** _As I expected, these purple marks are all over me... I hope Marco doesn't think it looks weird._**

 ** _Wait..._**

 ** _what the hell am I even saying!? Who cares what Marco thinks about me in my underwear?_**

 ** _..._**

 ** _Wait! My underwear! Oh no._** ** _Please don't tell me I wore my super bright pink ones today!_**

Janna slowly pulls back her skirt and shuts her eyes.

 ** _Please! Please! Please! Please..._**

Opening one eye, she looks down and lets out a sigh of relief when she sees she is wearing her black, skull print panties.

 ** _Whew, that was a close one._**

Janna pulls off her boots and unzips her skirt letting it fall to the ground. She then sits to take off her socks. "Yuck, wet socks."

"Tell me about it," Marco chuckles looking back at her. He is in the process of taking off his socks as well. Their eyes meet for a second, but they quickly turn away when they catch a glimpse of each other.

"N-Nothing worse than wet socks huh?" Marco says, face burning.

"Uhh, yeah... haha..." Janna awkwardly responds.

"Maybe we should find leaves or something to cover up huh?" Marco asks.

"I-It's no big deal. I mean, if you think about it, what we have on is no different from swimsuits."

"Yeah... I guess you are right." Marco agrees after turning it over in his mind a bit. It was still weird to see his friend like this though. Marco hesitates a bit but continues to undress.

Janna feels the tips of her ears start to burn as she hears the rattling of Marco's belt being undone right behind her. Despite her better judgment telling her not to look, Janna gives in to her curiosity and turns to see Marco shimmying out of his clinging wet pants. His black boxer briefs are soon the only thing left on him. She could feel how tone his body was when he was on top of her at the graveyard, but now she sees it first hand as her eyes linger on him. His body looks solid to the touch, but not too muscular. The water glistens off of his brown skin, accented by the purple marks on his body. Which Janna thinks looks kinda hot.

 ** _Huh? Hot!?_**

Before Janna can process what she is thinking, Marco makes eye contact while she is obviously staring.

"W-what?" Marco asks, covering up.

"Uhh, n-nothing!" Janna quickly looks away. "So we should start off making a fire and stuff, right?" Janna asks, standing up.

"Uh, yeah, look out for dry leaves, grass, and sticks."

"Got it," Janna says, quickly heading out.

"What's with her?" Marco wonders.

* * *

The sun is setting and Janna comes back with an armful of sticks, grass, and leaves. Marco has made a ring of rocks to contain the fire and a small rack out of sticks to dry their clothes on.

"Wow, I guess you did learn a thing or two from Discovery Station," Janna says, impressed with his work.

Marco puffs out his chest a bit. "Well, you got to be prepared for anything you know?"

"So I'm assuming you know how to start a fire too?"

Marco proudly pulls out two stones.

"Watch and learn," he says smugly.

Marco kneels down and arranges everything within the circle of rocks. He grabs the two stones and begins to strike them together.

"You see the friction of the rocks is supposed to cause a spark, and then with that spark, we will get an ember," Marco explains, hitting the rocks over and over.

Janna sits, bringing her knees to her chest. She watches Marco, impressed at is usefulness in this kind of situation.

Then...

About 5 minutes pass of Marco hitting rocks together with no avail. Janna starts to think maybe she was too quick to jump the gun about him being useful...

"Uhh, Marco..."

"Hold on Janna, I think I saw a spark!"

 ** _More likely it was just a piece of rock..._**

"Aren't they supposed to be like a certain type of rock to cause a spark?" Janna asks.

Marco pauses at this. "Maybe..." Marco looks out of the cave and sees the sun is almost gone. "Okay, we are almost out of time. No worries, time for Plan B!"

Marco grabs two sticks and starts drilling one with his hands into the other.

"Does that even work?"

"Yeah, you just got to do it really fast!"

Marco moves his hands back and forth over and over, but he just can't reach a good speed due to his injuries.

Marco winces and groans, dropping his arms in frustration. "Okay, do we have anything that's steel?"

As soon as Marco says that though, everything gets dark, so dark, they can't even see their own hands.

"Well looks like we are out of time on that...," Janna says

"Yeah... sorry."

A breeze blows into the cave, sending a chill up Janna's spine. "So what now?" She asks, shivering.

"Well, there is another way to keep warm but..."

"What is it?"

"Body heat..."

Janna feels her heart skip a beat. "Oh...w-well... its better than freezing to death, right?" She says, her voice slightly shaky.

"Y-yeah..."

"So umm... I guess we should find each other first?"

"Right..."

Both of them stretch their arms out in front of them and walk slowly in the dark, searching for each other.

"Marco?" Janna asks.

"Polo."

Janna snickers. "Pfft, that's not what I meant dummy. I was asking where you were."

"Oh," Marco laughs. "Well, I mean, Marco Polo is the same thing."

"I guess so," Janna chuckles, following his voice.

"Marco."

"Polo."

"Marco."

"Yes? what is it?"

"Hey, make up your mind!" Janna laughs.

Marco laughs back.

They follow the sound of each other's laughter untill their fringer tips touch. Marco interlocks there hands.

"Gotcha."

This catches Janna off guard.

"M-Marco!" Janna says, pulling her arms back.

"Polo?" Marco gets pulled in by Janna but loses his footing when he hits a rock, causing them to stumble to the ground.

"Owww," Janna groans.

"Sorry Janna, are you okay!?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The sound of Janna's voice lets Marco know she is under him.

"So now what?" Janna asks.

"Uhh... we hug I guess?"

"You guess?"

"I don't know! They just talked about it, it's only one guy on the show, it a not like he had a partner or anything..."

The thought of Marco considering her a partner made Janna feel a little warm already.

"Okay... so hug me then..." Janna quietly says.

"Right..." Marco awkwardly shifts his weight to one arm and uses the other to feel around to find exactly where Janna is.

He lightly taps his fingers on her nose and lips. Janna chuckles, to which Marco quickly retracts his hand. "What are you doing?" she asks.

"S-sorry! I was just trying to see where you were. Its pitch black in here."

"Yeah, it is pretty dark in here. I kind of like it though."

"You are the one into creepy stuff," Marco scoffs, still patting around.

"Yup, nothing better than pitch blac- Ah!" Janna let's out a surprised yelp.

Marco quickly retracts his hand again. "S-s-sorry! I was trying to find your arm."

"Well, that was my boob, Marco!" Janna yells, annoyed and embarrassed.

"M-Maybe it's better if you hug me first," Marco says.

"Yeah, probably..." Janna slowly extends her arms out. She presses her hands gently against him finding a firm area with her fingertips.

Marco can't help but flinch when he feels Janna's soft, cool fingers find his bare chest.

"Where am I touching?" Janna asks.

"Uhh, my boobs."

"Pfft, shut up you jerk!" Janna playfully pushes on Marco and laughs.

She slides her fingers to the sides until she gets to his armpits, and wraps her arms around him.

"Okay I got you," She says.

"Alright." Marco lowers himself down on Janna as she brings him closer until she has her arms completely warped around him.

They stay like that, silent.

It was warm for sure, but almost too warm. Neither of them really knew what to expect, but the sensation of another person's skin, every movement being felt down to the breaths, being half-naked... it was too much!

"Uhh... Janna?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Umm...lets maybe lay back to back instead..."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

Janna lets Marco loose and he quickly rolls off.

They lay back to back, their burning faces hidden in the dark.

"I hope Star and Jackie are having a better time than us," Janna says, breaking the silence.

"I hope they are still back home," Marco says.

"Yeah, anything is better than sleeping in a freezing cave."

Despite how hot their faces are feeling, their bodies are getting even colder as time passes. Marco can't help but notice how much Janna is shaking, they are back to back after all. He is not feeling too warm either.

"You still cold?" he asks.

"Well, it's not exactly toasty here."

Marco sighs and takes a deep breath. He turns around and wraps his arms around Janna from behind.

"M-M-Marco, what are you doing!?"

"I know its embarrassing, but we both are going to be freezing otherwise," Marco says.

"I... I guess..." Janna says, her face so red she might as well be glowing in the dark.

"Does it at least feel warmer?" Marco asks.

Janna starts to relax and lets herself fall into Marco. "Yeah... thanks," she shyly admits.

"... Hey, Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"You and Star do this stuff all the time right?"

"W-what!? No way! I've never held Star like this! I've never done this with any girl!"

Janna feels her whole body start to burn from embarrassment.

"T-That's not what I meant! I was talking about going to other worlds and stuff..."

Marco laughs, embarrassed. "O-Oh, yeah, we do,"

"What do you usually do?"

"Whatever Star wants, I guess? She is the one that drags me everywhere."

"Has this ever happened?"

"Has 'what' ever happened?"

"You guys getting stranded in some unknown dimension."

Marco pauses to think. "Not really, we always had a way to get back home with dimensional scissors."

"So is that the only way to get back?" Janna asks, I tinge of worry in her voice.

"As far as I know…" Marco feels Janna tense up at his answer. "B-But Star did bring us here with magic, so maybe she can do it with just her wand too," Marco quickly adds, which seems to get Janna to relax again.

"I hope so..." Janna says, letting out a worried sigh and closing her eyes.

* * *

Marco wakes up feeling very heavy.

 ** _I know I'm still recovering, but man, my body feels like it weighs a ton!_**

Looking down Marco sees a rather comfy, and drooling, Janna on his chest.

"J-Janna!" Marco pushes himself from under Janna and wipes his chest off.

"Eww…"

"Huh? What? "Janna mumbles as she wakes up.

Marco grimaces at the yawning Janna and looks out at the rising sun pouring into the cave.

"Guess its morning already."

"Is breakfast ready?" Janna grumbles, scratching her belly and rubbing her eye.

Marco sighs and stands up, wincing a little. "Sure, let me just whip up some waffles."

"I'd prefer bacon and eggs."

"With freshly squeeze orange juice?" Marco asks, offering his hand to help Janna up.

"And toast."

"Oh but of course!"

* * *

 _Splat!_

A green fish, that looks straight out of an alien movie is dropped in front of Janna.

"Uh, Marco? What in the name of breakfast is that?" Janna asks, Pointing at the strange creature.

"What else? It's a fish!... I think," Marco says half hardheartedly, poking at the creature with the wooden spear he made to catch it.

"Is it even edible?"

"I mean, its a fish… right?"

"Why are you asking me? You are the one that's supposed to be 'Nature Boy' over here."

"Oh yeah? Well did you find anything to eat?"

Janna gets a smug look and pulls out her beanie, which is filled to the brim with purple berries. "As a matter of fact, I did."

"O-ho-ho." Marco puts on a smug look of his own and picks up a berry examining it. "Is that right? Don't be so quick to just eat anything you find in the wild Janna. For all you know, these berries could be poisonous!"

"Oh, I know." Janna grabs the berry Marco is holding. "That's why you are going to try it first."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, you wouldn't want me to eat anything poisonous, right Marco?" Janna asks, stepping closer. "A trained wilderness expert such as yourself wouldn't let someone uneducated about the wild find out for themselves if something is poisonous, would you?"

Marco nervously backs up as Janna's approaches. "Hey, hold on now Janna, wait a minute!"

Janna gets closer to Marco, then suddenly a giant cat-like creature jumps out of the woods followed by three hunters.

Marco and Janna stand there, frozen, as they watch the hunters slowly circle around the giant feline. The hunters seem young, maybe around thirteen. The only form of clothing they have are loincloths, and their bodies are covered in red markings. They boast handmade spears of wood and iron, and bows strapped to their backs.

The cat growls and readies its self to fight. The beast jumps at one of them and with the utmost composer the young hunter skillfully doges and counters, stabbing the creature in its side. The feline collapses to the ground letting out one final low growl.

After making sure their target is dead, two of the hunters hoist their catch over their shoulders onto a pole and with the other taking point, leads the way back into the forest.

Marco, who just stood stunned at what he witnessed, snaps out of it and approaches one of the hunters carrying the beast.

"Uh, excuse me but do you know where we are?"

The hunters stop and look Marco and Janna up and down. They shake their heads and continue walking. Marco, feeling insulted, reaches out and grabs one on the shoulder.

"Hey, I asked you guys a question!"

The hunter leading the way quickly readies his spear and holds it up to Marco's throat. Marco looks down at the head of the sharp spear and gulps.

Janna pulls Marco behind her and waves her arms at the hunters.

"Sorry guys, he is not too bright. He didn't mean any harm. We are just lost and need to know where we are."

The hunter lowers his spear and looks over Janna and Marco again.

"We don't speak to the dead," The hunter says.

Turning around, the group heads back into the forest. Janna and Marco watch in silence as the hunters disappear into the dense forest.

* * *

 **Hey guys! Long-time no see. Sorry I haven't posted in forever. I recently moved to a new city and started a new job so that has taken up a bit of my time. But If I'm honest though, I have just been very lazy with writing. I apologize for keeping those of you who enjoy reading my stories waiting. This story is really hard to write because I don't have a definite ending planned yet and every chapter just feels like I'm adding more of a mountain to climb. I developed a subplot that should help me finish though. (Not sure if many of you will be a fan of it though ^^;)**

 **I plan on ending this story soon, maybe in like five chapters, or three really long ones. Please bear with me and criticism is appreciated. I thank every one of you for taking the time to read what I have created. Much love.**

 **P.S. Sorry if this chapter was too touchy-feely for you XD. Since I was a kid I have always loved to see characters kiss and touch. That is why I like anime so much. Nowadays western animation has been dabbling with it more I think. Anyway, let me know if you think I should change the rating. I think its still teen but idk.**


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